Urgent Causes of Agricultural Land Degradation around the City of Hamadan

Fertile soil, like water as the most basic element of human life, is a one of God’s blessings entrusted to man that has been unfortunately left to neglect and degradation. Efforts are made in this study to investigate soil properties in the arable land around the City of Hamadan in order to identify the factors involved in its degradation over the past 60 years. To this end, the extent of fertile soil degradation during this period was initially estimated using aerial photos taken in 1955 and satellite images recently taken. A review was then conducted of the rules, regulations, and codes, and the pertinent amendments on land use change. It was found that more than 4000 hectares of the best agricultural lands have been devastated due to land use change over the past sixty years at least partly as the result of numerous ambiguous laws and regulations that allowed inappropriate approval of comprehensive urban plans. It is, therefore, suggested that a veto right should be given, as a short-term measure, to the representative(s) of the Agricultural Jihad Ministry on the Article 5 Commission and other similar commissions, and that all such commissions must be discontinued and replaced with a professional commission of agricultural and urban development experts, as a long-term term measure. The commission shall not only be mandated to review all the existing laws but must also draft and submit to regulatory bodies a comprehensive fault-free law that safeguards arable lands. The commission shall also be in charge of issuing permits for any necessary changes in land use.