Environmental Crisis and Sustainable Development Paradigm: Perspectives on Iran s Achievement to Environmental Sustainability and Challenges Ahead

Environmental protection and Sustainability are central pillars of sustainable development. Continuance of life on Earth depends on sustainability of the environment. Considering the significance of the issue, environmental sustainability has been defined as one of the main goals of the United Nations sustainable development. The United Nations, in a clear analysis of the persistence of environmental unsustainability alongside the global poverty, the increasing rate of child mortality, the threat to women s and men s health as a threat to global sustainable peace, determined to formulate the goals of sustainable development to help human beings to come to terms with the nature and make equality and justice prerequisites for life. This goal has various indicators and sub-objectives that are set to monitor the progress of governments in achieving these goals. The study of Iran s Sustainable Development Report published in 2006 and internal statistics and the examination of the recent report on Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Published by the University of Yale in 2018, show that Iran s ranking has been in decline in recent years. The examination of the development plans, management and political system governing Iran shows that the environment has had a marginal position in development plans. In this paper, after examining the environmental status of Iran with regard to the 2030 Agenda, the management and policy challenges facing Iran are examined.