INTRODUCTION Our early Iranian forefathers conceived of the earth as a mother, of nature as sacred, and of pollution of the environment as sin; and we are proud of our early scholars - the contributions to natural history of al-Biruni, the medical research of Avicenna, the chemical and physiological discoveries of Razi, the mathematical groundwork of Omar Khayyam. Hence an environmental ethic and concern for the natural sciences are very much parts of Iran's past. This tradition _ although perhaps in limbo for centuries -is reawakening and renewing its influences today. Serving as it does as a bridge between three continents; Asia, Africa and Europe. Iran has obvious responsibilities to itself and to the world at large to preserve and maintain the evidence of its long heritage of developing civilization, and to protect, enhance, and build upon it for the future-into which we are rushing at almost frightening speed. It is superfluous to justify or explain the existence or the plan or the need for a museum of natural science and history. In resent decades ,the tremendous global importance of environmental concerns and issues has become generally recognized, and -at this and age stage of the world - the functions and roles - the needs-for such institutions in every country should be readily apparent to most citizens. Concerned not only with the natural sciences , the museum also serves the environmental and conservation authority as a library-a place for establishing its maintaining its terms of reference , and a place for cataloguing and assessing the results of its programs. Such institutions , with their international connotations and responsibilities , are needed particularly and urgently and in greater numbers in Asia. Seemingly unimportant, and until recently nonexistent in many places , they now have evident and distinct roles to play in these lands which are striving to develop rapidly , and must do so on sound and scientific bases. NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR NATURAL HISTORY In 1973, Iran's National Museum for Natural History -in Persian(=Farsi) :" Muzeh-e Melli-ye Tarikh-e Tabi'i" (MMTT)- was founded and now  it is a part of the Department of the Environment as one of the President of the Republic's affiliated organizations. For purposes of planning and support , it began in effect as a staff division ; today , it is a semi-autonomous entity, a component under broad supervision of the Department's Natural Environment and Biodiversity Deputy. The mission-and the goal of the Museum is to become a major institution which will serve as a source for public information and a center for scientific study and research activity .It is intended and anticipated that such a modern museum will stimulate advanced studies by Iranian and also foreign experts in all of the various disciplines of natural sciences and history. With its concept and plan defined , the approach which has been adopted for the museum is to establish the basic outlines as quickly as possible , and to proceed from there -with all deliberate haste towards its development . The museum has generated its own separate incipient disciplines, each designed and scheduled to grow into fully - staffed units. Focus in establishing , building , and maintaining museum collections necessarily is on the rich , varied , and largely unknown Iranian natural history phenomena. The sections of Zoo-Archaeology and Paleo-Ecology should concentrate on amazing and analyzing evidence of the early human and hominid beings that once inhabited the country . The Sections of Mammalogy , Ornithology , Herpetology , and Ichthyology have anthropological remains. The Entomology Section is devoted exclusively to Arthropoda, and the remainder of living Iranian Invertebrate are handled by the Invertebrate Zoology Section. Their collections are growing especially concerning the Persian Gulf invertebrates. Fossils, rocks, and minerals form separate, but related, collection -nuclei within the Section of Geology and paleontology .These form bases for understanding the physical and biological prehistory of Iran . Herbarium is a new section that established in 1986 and has collected many samples especially from Department’s Reserves and recently (SEP. 1999) moved to Pardisan Park in a new building. To stimulate as well as to facilitate its development ,the Museum has established educational and training programs which should designed to groom support staff with background and experience , which until now has not been sufficiently in the national scientific framework. These include a library of taxonomic, systematic, and natural history texts. The Iran’s National Museum for Natural History has embarked on a number of exciting and ambitious programs These are designed to provide specimens, facts, data, and displays that will shed scientific light, and provide public information on several aspects of regional national history . The foremost of these will be a major endeavor, to reopen on a thoroughly modern basis the classic Maragheh Miocene/Pliocene fossil beds , near lake Urmiah. Following a preliminary surface survey in 1974 , excavations was done during of 1975 - 1978 and was stopped during the Revolution and war years , and has planned for the 3rd five year plan (2000-2004). Concerted efforts in herpetology resulted in rapid accumulation of one of the world's largest collection of Iranian amphibians and reptiles. This such as on the snakes and lizards of Iran. Similar efforts in Mammalogy have begun, and give promise for a major world collection . Popular mammal and amphians guides were printed by DOE and Tehran University on the basis of the collections of the MMTT. Building on a mounted display of megafauna from most continents , the Museum is working now to develop an extensive Natural History Museum and exhibit program. For this, the latest techniques and materials of collections, identifying, preserving taxidermy, design, display, casting, and painting are employed . As with any such museum, the National Museum for Natural History has begun publishing scientific, technical, and popular leaflets, reports and analyses. These are based on its present resources , as well as the input of cooperating experts and specialists . It is planned to produce regular museum bulletins , monographs, and periodicals . This informative material , geared to various levels of interest , is intended to fill many current deficiencies or voids in natural history information . In one important respect , the youth of Iran's museum is a significant advantage , for it is possible to acquire the most advanced equipment and to apply the newest techniques and materials at every stage of development. For example , electronic data management will be applied from the outset. This will provide data storage and retrieval , and will meld the activities of all sections into a coordinated common effort. Among other innovations, automatic data processing and satellite communications systems will enable MMTT to be integrated into the expanding global network of natural science, history and art museums, research institutions, and universities. Since December 1998 we accept the Clearing House Mechanism responsibility in MMTT and start translation and distribution of more interesting texts as WEB pages. These pages now are available in http://WWW.ABDNET.COM/DOE   and will mirror in http:// WWW.IRAN-DOE.ORG addresses. Sophisticated equipment and procedures-such as scanning electron microscope and computer terminals, operated by trained staff will allow precise taxonomic and systematic analysis, based on current physical, chemical and statistical methods. Researchers and scholars will have at hand major preserved collections and samples of Iran's fauna and geology , and also will have immediate access to modern physiology, anatomy, histology, osteology, and specimen-preparation laboratories. Already , the fledgling Museum has attracted experts from all over the world that some of them have spent varying periods of time working with our museum in the field and in the laboratory in the past. The displays and exhibits of the Museum are designed to stimulate the interest , to increase the knowledge , and to influence the opinions of the Iranian public concerning its heritage of natural history and its responsibilities towards it . Ultimately, the Iranian National Museum for Natural History will become an integral part of the Department's revolutionary total, Pardisan Eco-park, in the capital city of Tehran . There, it is anticipated that modern facilities with adequate space for collections , laboratories , offices , and general work will stimulate and sustain continued advanced studies in the natural sciences. PARDISAN New building for museum designed in more than 45000 square meter and it's construction have started since World Day of Museums 1999 with theme of "Pleasure of Discovery" as an important part of DOE in order to conservation of Biodiversity. Its construction is going to began in following months. In deed by Pardisan , originally As mentioned , we are decided to create a total Eco-park. Its themes had two dimensions: on the one hand, it is concerned with nature with the history of the earth in its galactic context , and with a range and variety of wildlife, plant life, physical and geological formations ;on the other hand , it seeked to place man within this environment and to represent in various ways the interaction between them . The method of presentation was designed to highlight processes of change and adaptation. The metaphysical view was the unity of man and nature . To this end, the first decision had been to reverse the traditional separatism and reductionism of the sciences so as to conjoin and assimilate them into a single institution . All of the various elements elsewhere presented in academies, museums, gardens, planetariums, and aquariums were planned to be integrated into presentation of a single holistic science addressing the problems of environments and adaptation as an entity In the internationally-oriented institution of Pardisan, Iranians from all walks of life were though to be encouraged to learn about environmental causes and effects-processes which were planned to be presented to them by means of the most advanced audio-visual and museological techniques a valuable and from the standpoint of the Islamic and Iranian cultural experiences. The master plan was called for re-creation of Iran's major biomes on an unprecedented scale. The portion of Pardisan representing Marine biome designed to be located centrally, and be extended from a miniature Persian Gulf in the south to a symbolic Caspian Sea in the north, encompassing between them Iranian cultural exhibits in simulated environments corresponding to our dry southern coastal plains, massive mountains, high plateaus, semi - deserts and deserts, grasslands and woodlands, deciduous forests, and fertile Caspian littoral. Biomes will link by  monorail, walkways and roads. CONCLUSION But for us, in the final analysis , new museum or Pardisan are not two projects or a programs, those are casual ! No such institution has ever been created; when it was conceived, none was being contemplated elsewhere. In a most comprehensive and visible way, it embodies the ideals , the philosophy, and the aims of the Department of the Environment of Iran to the mail goal that is "Conservation of Biodiversity as Important World Heritages". It is to be not merely a novel Iranian garden, but a major new world institution, designed to recapture the vision of our illustrious ancestors , and to respond directly to the perception of the 1971 Stockholm Conference-that among all the varied lands and people of this world: "There is .... Only One Earth"! MOHAMMADI FAZEL A. Director General Natural History Museums Department of the Environment No:9 - Gha-em Magham Ave. Tehran - I.R. IRAN Tel: +98-21-88 24 513 Fax: +98-21-88 31 297 e-mail: mfazel@chamran.ut.ac.ir Last Update: October 07, 2000