Iran’s once massive Lake Urmia, until recently 2,000-square-mile expanse, contracted 90 percent between 1985 and 2015, creating cascading regional environmental problems… Compounded by drought and rising temperatures, the unwillingness of Iran’s leaders to confront the challenges before them is moving the country toward environmental crisis. We have you covered! Laylin stressed the need for education and for the Iranian public, especially young people and women, to become more involved in environmental protection. According to reports, local water supplies were undrinkable due to high salinity and mud content, making hundreds sick. The Iranian environmental movement largely owes its existence to one man: Eskandar Firouz, a charismatic aristocrat and big game hunter. Former Iranian Agriculture Minister Issa Kalantari warned in 2015 that, if left unresolved, the water crisis would force 50 million (of a total 80 million) Iranians to migrate in the next 25 years. Iran’s environmental challenges are reaching a crisis point. Schmeier highlighted the unsustainable and inefficient use of water resources throughout Iran, a contributing factor in ever-increasing migration “especially if you link it with the refugee crisis experienced by European countries in recent years.”. Iran is heavily reliant on energy-intensive industries for domestic economic ... • Environment Preservation Organization: “Pollution Data In addition to the above, many statistics from international sources such as ... issues but progress ‘on the ground’ has been slow. The regime’s failure to implement sound water policies has led to aquifers being depleted at potentially irreversible rates. Iranian students protest at the University of Tehran during a demonstration driven by anger over economic problems, in the capital Tehran on December 30, 2017. Chapter Seven: Environmental Exploitation and its Implications for Iran, Corruption and mismanagement at the highest levels of the Iranian regime have produced years of environmental exploitation and degradation throughout the country. Yet, around the same time, authorities went so … Corruption and mismanagement at the highest levels of the Iranian regime have produced years of environmental exploitation and degradation throughout the country. Masoud Mostajabi, Barbara Slavin moderates a panel with David Laylin, Susanne Schmeier and Glenn Schweitzer. In Iran’s capital, Tehran, schools were closed for days in February 2018 because the amount of hazardous particles in the air were over nine times higher than WHO recommended amounts. “It is important for the world to understand the scope of the regime’s recklessness and malfeasance.” The following is the section on environmental issues. All of this, poses a serious threat to Israel's water supply. President Hassan Rouhani has said the Iranian government will address the people’s grievances and in 2015, Supreme Leader Khamenei called on the government to “manage climate change and environmental threats such as desertification, especially dust pollution [and] drought.” A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander noted in a public speech in late February that water would play a key role for Iran’s national and regional security. Iranian politicians like to refer to their country as an "island of stability" in the Middle East. Nikahang Kowsar, an Iranian geologist currently living in exile, remarked, “when people lose their lands they lose everything, and that means they aren’t scared of anything. It is like a time bomb.”. The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), a leading NGO, said that towns and villages around Isfahan have been hit so hard by drought and water diversion that many have emptied out. A year later, the Isfahan Chamber of Commerce  reported that the drying out of the Zayandeh Roud river basin had deprived around two million farmers of their income. There are bad agricultural policies and bad water governance. Slogans by protestors outside the municipal governor’s office in February 2018 included, “Ahvaz is our city, clean air is our right,” and “breath, breath, breath, the least of our demands in the world.” A constant grievance of the Ahvazis is that their water is being diverted to projects that line the pockets of agribusinesses associated with the regime. Recently, large protests have broken out in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province. Iraq is very dependent on the surface water (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) crossing its borders from neighbouring countries. Since 1979, Iran has built about 600 dams, an average of 20 per year. Laylin, asked about Iran’s jailing of members of a prominent environmental NGO, said “there are elements in Iran who really want cooperation. In 2005 18.1 million hectares were cultivated. He noted that the US is also a member of “international [environmental] agreements, about half a dozen, which the Iranians are also party to… These agreements are only as useful as its members make them to be.”. Climate change is already affecting Arizona’s environment. According to reports, the government began building numerous dams around the lake in the 1990s, slowly siphoning off its water supply. All basin countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) have developed Many have been arrested, with reports of protestors being killed by security forces. As Iranians have become increasingly aware of the scope of their country’s environmental problems, the regime has cracked down on organizations working to address them. Iran presents a serious problem for the world. Labor strikes. According to Mehr News Agency, Khorramshahr’s water was too dirty even for cooking or laundry. The benefactors of these projects were contractors from the IRGC, individuals close to the Ministry of Energy, and large agribusinesses, who all got rich as the lake drained. In June 2018, protests in Khorramshahr, a city also in Khuzestan province, turned violent with at least one protester reportedly shot. These calamities have become a source of social and economic hardship, a threat to public health and a factor in mounting political protests. As one prominent Iranian scholar said, “the people at the top are too incompetent and too corrupt to care.” As a result, the situation is continuing to deteriorate while the Iranian people call on their government to take action. “Today, the United States is publishing a full record of the Islamic Republic’s hostile behavior abroad and its repression at home beyond the continued threat of the nuclear program,” wrote Secretary of State Pompeo in the report’s introduction. • Water demand is increasing in Iraq due to population growth, environmental considerations, and economic development (Danboos et al, 2017). Iranian government's priority is to find effective solutions for environmental issues, said Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, Trend reports via IRNA. Want to be the first to get up to speed on the meaning of big, breaking international developments? Event Recap The cultivable area is estimated at about 51 million hectares, which is 29% of the total area. Iran’s history of unsustainable water use and groundwater pumping has been worsened by a 14-year drought, which, according to the director of Iran’s Drought and Crisis Management Center, affects approximately 96 percent of the country. The continued mismanagement is underscored by inefficient irrigation techniques, decentralized water management, continued subsidies for water-intensive crops like wheat (not least thanks to the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary goal of achieving wheat self-sufficiency) and excessive dam building. There is heavy stress on and pollution of scarce water resources. State Department Report 7: Iran's Environmental Issues, Sanctions 6: U.S. Sanctions Many Iran Proxies, Sanctions 7: Iran’s Economy by the Numbers, Sanctions 5: Trump's "Maximum Pressure" Targets, U.S. Khuzestan, an oil-rich province with a large population of ethnic Arabs, has suffered from largescale desertification, industrial waste, and excessive dam projects, which many have said were built only to benefit IRGC contractors. About Iran’s brief post Cold War history (CIA/British overthrow of democratically elected Mossadeq, and support for the Shah dictator followed by overthrow by Iranian Islamic Fundamentalists). "Development and economic issues are important but obtaining sustainable development requires that we protect the country's environment… Some politicians have even proposed relocating the capital due to Tehran’s air pollution. For Iraqi leaders, the Soleimani strike exacerbated an already challenging balancing act in maintaining Baghdad’s relationships with the United States and Iran, with whom it shares a long border and religious and … Iran is also the origin of many genetic resources of the world, including commercially valuable plant species such as wheat. However, despite public proclamations, little has been done to address the problem. Susanne Schmeier, a senior lecturer at IHE Delft who joined the panel discussion, warned that the negative environmental effects go beyond Iran’s borders. Iraq Faces 'Alarming' Enviro Problems April 24, 2003 / 1:19 PM / AP Iraq faces severe pollution and other environmental problems as a result of … Widespread poverty and growing inequality, low labor force participation and high unemployment, human capital flight, declining productivity, banking and pension crises, high and rising public debt, loss of social capital, and serious environmental issues are among the challenges currently facing the country. Simultaneously there are These protests have been based largely in towns around central Isfahan and western Khuzestan province. While it is unclear how much has been spent on the dam projects, much of the money is thought to have lined the pockets of IRGC affiliates. Glenn Schweitzer, director at the Office for Central Europe and Eurasia at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, specified three key priorities for Iran: reducing air pollution, water pollution and hazardous wastes. In May 2018, more than 40 environmentalists, rangers and their relatives, many affiliated with PWHF, were arrested as part of the regime’s crackdown. Taken together, poorly implemented environmental policies, rampant government corruption, and an ineffectual response from the regime have upended the lives and livelihoods of millions, leading to protests throughout the country. Clashes with security forces followed weeks of water shortages, in which the local population had no access to clean water. Barbara Slavin, Pollution. Temperatures have risen by almost two degrees F in the past several decades, more rapidly than any other state in the lower 48 states, and are projected to continue increasing sharply by another three to five degrees F by 2050.2 Rapid urbanization is exacerbating this trend by extending the urban heat island effect over larger areas and longer seasons, raising night-time temperatures … Severe water and air pollution, deforestation, land degradation, desertification, climate change, and biodiversity loss are only a few of the increasing number of major environmental issues faced by Iran. The January 3, 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed powerful Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil marked an escalation in already simmering U.S.-Iran tensions. The cost of the regime’s harmful environmental practices are not borne by Iranians and their land alone – air pollution knows no borders. Sites where municipal and medical wastes have accumulated carry the risk of disease epidemics. There are other people who don’t want foreigners” meddling in Iran. © 2018 Atlantic Council Due to a number of causes, however, Iran is exposed to rapid environmental and biodiversity degradation processes. Strikes Iran-Backed Militias in Syria, Part 1: Biden’s Opening Bid on Iran Diplomacy, Part 3: Europe, Russia and China on U.S. Moves, Part 4: Restoring Limits on Iran's Nuclear Program, Timeline: Iranian Fuel Shipments to Venezuela, Dual Nationals and Foreigners Held in Iran, U.S. Revokes Houthi Terrorist Designation. Iranis an agricultural country, and the agricultural sector pl… Once among the largest lakes on earth, Lake Urmia has shrunk considerably. Bank failures.In recent months, Iran has been beset by economic problems despite the promises surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal it … Thanks to poor planning and years of drought, many of the dams have been rendered useless. Many Iranians point to Lake Urmia in northwest Iran as an example of the regime’s mismanagement as well as its inability to change course. Iran covers a total area of about 1.75 million square kilometers. In the wake of record floods in Iran that have killed more than two dozen people, new attention has focused on the environmental challenges facing the Middle East. WRIGHT: Iran is one of the most emotional issues in foreign policy and has been now for forty years. Military operations in three wars (Iran–Iraq War, Gulf War, and Iraq War) have left unexploded ordnance and land mines in exposed positions, killing or wounding an estimated 100,000 people in the early 2000s. Hardships resulting from a lack of water are often worst in rural areas, where Iran’s large, historically marginalized and oppressed ethnic and religious minorities reside. These calamities have become a source of social and economic hardship, a threat to public health and a factor in mounting political protests. On September 25, the State Department's Iran Action Group released a report detailing Iran’s support of terrorism, missile program, illicit financial activities, threat to maritime security, threat to cybersecurity, human rights abuses, and exploitation of the environment. Abadollah Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, the IRGC’s engineering arm, said in December 2017 that 62 dams, accounting for half of Iran’s damming capacity, were constructed by his firm. The issues facing the region are complex and reflect a number of factors, according to experts who spoke on March 27 at the Atlantic Council. The Iranian government has identified water as one of the country’s foremost problems but has failed to respond appropriately. He also praised United Nations programs on the environment and past US-Iran scientific exchanges, noting that both countries have had problems with excessive dam building and saline lakes. The National Academies held its last workshop with Iranians on environmental issues in December 2017, in Italy. ... protests over environmental issues began to … Among them are climate change, water scarcity, mismanagement, and poor … Laylin cited inefficient water use, a lack of funding for the Department of the Environment and insufficient coordination between the government, academia and some 850 non-governmental organizations that focus on the environment. Well, while the United States has its own serious environmental problems, the nation also has more expertise in this area than most any other state. The protestors chanted at one point that government officials were “useless” and “robbed us in the name of religion.” One Iranian political commentator writing on social media summed up the frustration, writing, “For how long should the people of Khorramshahr and Abadan scream they have no water? The wartime destruction of military and industrial infrastructure has … The National Geographic said Lake Urmia now looks more like a crime scene, its beautiful waters that were once immortalized in Persian poetry turned to salt, which fills Iran’s asphyxiating dust storms. Their datetree farms have been destroyed, their wetlands have dried up and dust has injured their throats. About 52% of the country consists of mountains and deserts, and some 16% of the country has an elevation of more than 2000 meters above sea level. An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced at least six environmental experts detained since January 2018 after an unfair trial where the defendants apparently could not see the full … Environmental and Wildlife Degradation in Iran, Policy on donor acceptance and disclosure. “European countries are perceiving the environmental crisis in Iran as something that is threatening not only stability within Iran, but also regional and global stability,” she said. by On June 26, the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative launched a new issue brief, Environmental and Wildlife Degradation in Iran, by ecologist David Laylin. According to a 2016 World Bank report, Zabol, Bushehr, and Ahvaz are among the most polluted cities in the world. In March 2018, dozens of Isfahani farmers physically turned their back to the Friday prayer leader, a peaceful and powerful repudiation of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian people feel the pain of this regime’s environmental mismanagement in many ways, but limited access to water is among the most pronounced. In 2013, anger at the government’s plans to divert water from Isfahan led to clashes with police. Armenia (/ ɑːr ˈ m iː n i ə / (); Armenian: Հայաստան, romanized: Hayastan, IPA: [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country located in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia. All rights reserved. When Iranian activists mobilize to address what is among the most fundamental issue in any society, they are harassed, arrested or die under suspicious circumstances. Even if the regime developed a sustainable policy agenda for its water supply, it is unlikely that it would be implemented due to rampant corruption – just look at the Iranian regime’s policy on dam construction. Air pollution also remains a severe problem in Iran. In most kibbutzim and moshavim there are no treatment facilities beyond sedimentation and aeration and in some places, notably Jewish settlements and the Arab townships in Judea and Samaria, the raw sewage simply flows into the wadis. Of this area, 16.5 million hectares consisted of annual crops and 1.6 million hectares of permanent crops. Compounded by drought and rising temperatures, the unwillingness of Iran’s leaders to confront the challenges before them is moving the country toward environmental crisis. Most remain unjustly detained or have been killed, a warning to all who once worked in this relatively safe and non-politicized field. Related Experts: The water crisis is real and killing the country today. In September 2018, Tehran Municipality’s Deputy Director of Transportation and Traffic, Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaei, said that the city’s air pollution costs Iran over $2.6 billion a year. By comparison, before the revolution, Iran had seven ancient dams and 14 modern ones. Schweitzer said he hoped to continue scientific engagement with Iran, despite the obstacles posed by both the US and Iranian governments and the increased difficulty of obtaining US visas for Iranians after a June 26 Supreme Court decision upholding the Trump administration’s travel ban on mostly Muslim nations. Masoud Mostajabi. Schmeier also outlined European efforts to work with Iran on water issues since the conclusion of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal but acknowledged that this cooperation could be jeopardized by the US decision to leave the deal and re-impose secondary sanctions on European companies that do business in Iran. In January 2018, protests by farmers in the town of Qahderijan, near Isfahan, turned violent as security forces opened fire on crowds and killed at least five people. Working for an institution that advises the US government, Schweitzer said the US has significant reasons to work with Iran in the environmental sphere including concern for the welfare of Iran’s neighbors and the benefits US scientists gain from working with extremely well qualified counterparts in Iran. Sign up to receive rapid insight in your inbox from Atlantic Council experts on global events as they unfold. They live next to three fresh water rivers and yet they have to buy drinking water.”. The current water crisis should come as no surprise. The mullahs' maladministration over four decades has left Iran struggling with deforestation, desertification, water scarcity and countless other examples of environmental degradation. The air quality in Tehran was recently called a "collective suicide" by an Iranian environmental official. As it throws billions into misadventures abroad fueled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), it neglects the most basic needs at home, including the ability of its people to drink clean water and breathe fresh air. Iran’s environment is reaching a crisis point; in fact, the arrests occurred during the country’s worst drought in modern times. Severe water and air pollution, deforestation, land degradation, desertification, climate change, and biodiversity loss are only a few of the increasing number of major environmental issues faced by Iran. Compounded by drought and rising temperatures, the unwillingness of Iran’s leaders to confront the challenges before them is moving the country toward environmental crisis. Limited access to water and poor air quality are among the top concerns for many Iranians today. Nationwide protests. The people were forced to buy water from the black market or stand in line in the sweltering heat for water tankers to arrive. The report details the breadth of these challenges and outlines steps the Islamic Republic and international partners might take to begin to remedy them. The regime’s failure to address critical environmental issues like potentially irreversible depletion of its water resources and air pollution strikes at the heart of its inability to respond to the broader needs of its people. Latest Environment News in Iran – Covering stories, opinions, and reports dealing with the most important environmental issues and challenges of sustainable development, and efforts to save the environment either in Iran or other parts of the world. Hundreds of Ahvazis have taken to the streets to protest the regime’s exploitation of their land and water. For much of the year, Ahvaz is blanketed with yellow smog and its residents suffer from respiratory and skin ailments. The Islamic Republic of Iran is facing a growing domestic problem: pollution. During the discussion, Laylin noted while many of the challenges had their roots in practices, such as excessive dam building, that began under the Shah, the crisis has worsened considerably since the 1979 Islamic Revolution because of poor and sometimes corrupt management. This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary for its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. In many cases, the dams have actually contributed to further environmental damage and the loss of much-needed water from already marginalized communities who live on the social and economic peripheries. Reports estimate that well over 16 million Iranians have already fled the countryside and are now living in shantytowns, up from 11 million in 2013. Iraq’s social and political landscape has changed drastically after an escalation of regional and global power competition, the COVID-19-induced health and economic crises, and the unprecedented uprising by peaceful demonstrators in October 2019 that led to formation of a new government. Sand and dust storms, which hit Khuzestan particularly hard, are also a problem, worsened by the drying of surface waters, compounding grievances among an already aggravated population. As they speak out in growing numbers about these hardships, the regime has responded with force to stifle dissent and obscure its own corrupt practices. According to a 2017 report by the United Nations, water shortages in Iran are so acute that agricultural livelihoods are no longer sustainable. The politicization of environmental issues — especially on Iran — has been a project not just of private donors but state actors as well. Corruption and mismanagement at the highest levels of the Iranian regime have produced years of environmental exploitation and degradation throughout the country.