Head of the Department of Environment Isa Kalantari called for the Science Ministry, which is in charge of higher education, to narrow the focus of an environmental college to ranger training.
"We ask the Science Ministry to officially change the title of the Collage of Environment to Collage of Ranger Training, so the park rangers can receive more specialized training in confronting environmental offenders" Kalantari told a ceremony held on Sunday to honor two rangers who were recently killed in the line of duty.
After completing the four-year course of training on, inter alia, social and military aspects of a ranger's job, the graduates would be employed by the DOE's protection unit, he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
"We are guilty of neglecting our community of rangers because we have provided them with little training," Kalantari, who also doubles as vice president, acknowledged.
Old Grievances
Park rangers have long complained of poor pay and legal protection and many have been charged in the past with manslaughter for killing illegal hunters in gunfights.
This is while poachers and offenders have killed around 120 park rangers and injured more than 300 over the past four decades.
"Park wardens are defending the rights of generations to come and we should support them," Kalantari said.
The murder of three rangers in mid-2016 gave further impetus to a campaign demanding better legal protection for park wardens. That improved protection was enshrined in a DOE-drafted bill submitted weeks later to First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri for further review.
Pending Bill
The bill has stalled since March 2017, when it was sent for parliamentary consideration and approval.
Kalantari said legislation is expected to become law by mid-March 2019, which marks the end of the Iranian year.
"It has passed the Majlis Legal and Judicial Commission and will soon go to the floor. Given the lawmakers' positive view of the bill, it will hopefully be passed into law before the year's end to alleviate part of the concerns of the rangers and their families."
The new law would ease the restrictions park rangers face in using their weapons in gunfights against poachers and would provide them with adequate professional liability insurance.
The College of Environment was established in 1972 by the DOE to be the first national center for environmental education.
