The Role of Government Policies in Reducing Production and Consumption of Charcoal in Iran during the First and Second Development Programs (1327-1341/1948-1962)

Forestry and forest products, as factors in the supply of food, fuel, humanitarian needs and some industrial needs, have played an important role throughout history. One of the uses of forests in Iran has long been for supplying required charcoal for the use of people in cities and villages.
That is why a large part of the forests of Central and West and South of Iran, due to indiscriminate exploit, were destroyed. Also the northern forests were destroyed to a considerable degree by the same factor. Therefore, from the beginning of Development Programs in the 13271948/ policies were implemented by the Government to reduce the production and consumption of coal. Thus, in this study, using data obtained from governmental documents, government policies during the first and second seven-year development programs (13271341-) in this field will be explained and we will show that the government policies achieved considerable success both changing the way of coal producing and reducing the production and consumption of alternative fuels, such as oil.