Desertification and Drought – the clerical regime’s hand-made Tsunami for Iran
Every year and on various occasions for the past 40 years, the mullahs’ regime has been condemned for it flagrant violations of human rights. But there are other aspects to the regime’s anti-Iranian policies, a silent catastrophe that the Iranian people will suffer from for generations to come.
One of these aspects is the environment, including desertification.
The Iranian regime is not protecting the environment but destroying it. The destruction of environment in Iran has led to poverty and destitution of a large portion of the populace.
The regime’s inefficient management of the share of natural water from available resources have boosted desertification in Iran. Desertification is no longer just the drought of lands and aqueducts, but the decline in soil fertility and increased migration are also among its consequences.
Some 20 percent of the country’s lands are located on the desert strip, which is called by the state-run outlets as a silent earthquake. Currently, 18 out of 31 provinces and 97 cities of Iran are involved in desertification, and these numbers are increasing annually.[1]
The drying of Lake Urmia, Zayandeh Rood river and other major rivers in Khuzestan and Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad provinces are attributed to the IRGC projects.
Isa Kalantari, the head of the Environment Protection Organization: We have closed the flow of water and we no longer have running water. Iran’s rivers are dead, except for Sefidrud and Karun rivers, which are short of breath. The rest of the rivers do not reach their destination and are not alive.[2]
Drying up of Lake Urmia
The rapid drying up of Lake Urmia has been one of the worst disaster taken place under the rule of the clerical regime in Iran. The drying of the lake endangers the lives of residents of East and West Azerbaijan Province, and has affected the lives of neighboring provinces, over time.
The salty shores surrounding the lake are gradually expanding, and the salinity of aquifers has been increasing. With the drying of Lake Urmia, a vast salty desert will replace it and change the face of life of local people.
Experts say the clerical regime’s disorderly construction of big dams as well as the construction of a road with military purposes which passed through the middle of this lake upset its ecological balance and accelerated the speed of its dehydration.[3]
The expanse of Lake Urmia has decreased by 17 kilometers compared to last year (2019). The budget considered for protecting and saving the lake is around 499 million Tomans, but saving the lake needs more budget, otherwise the risk of drying up is high.[4]
Drinking water
People living in Khuzestan, located on the banks of Iran’s largest river, and cities bordering bodies of sea, are struggling with shortage of drinking water.
107 cities suffering from water shortages are mostly overpopulated and currently 17 million people are subject to water shortage.[5]
Officials predict that due to the shortage of water for agriculture, Iran’s eastern and southern areas will be completely deserted in less than 25 years, and 50 million people will have to emigrate.[6]
From the 570 springs in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province, 360 springs and water sources for drinking water have completely dried out in the tribal regions.[7]
The southern province of Kerman which produces one of the country’s main exports, pistachios, suffers from a “Drought Tsunami” and 800 villages are supplied by water tanks.[8]
The condition of aquifers of the southern province of Fars, once one of the top producers of wheat in Iran, has become irreversible.[9]
The residents of 800 villages in Khuzestan do not have access to sustainable potable water, despite their proximity to 5 major dams and 7 rivers.[10]
Only 19 percent of Sistan and Baluchestan residents have access to safe drinking water. Water and sewage projects have been half-finished for 30 years. Citizens in some of these areas do not even have the salt water that once flowed in the water pipes.[11]
The port city of Chabahar is one of the most important cities of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, lying on the coast of an ocean. But tankers provide 100% of the water supply in the villages in Chabahar.[12]
Underlining the acute water crisis in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, a Majlis deputy revealed that 4 years ago, a widow had been compelled to sell her body to provide potable water for her children. The miserable woman then committed suicide.[13]
Lack of access to tap water, and its effects on women and children’s health
In the absence of proper plumbing, women in Khuzestan and of Sistan and Baluchestan are forced to carry the water they need. This results in many physical problems. Women must wait in long lines – sometimes for hours – just to get a bucket of drinking water for their families.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic Women and other residents face even more problems given that a primary safety measure against contracting the virus is frequent hand- washing with soap and water. In addition, the bad water poses a risk to health and weakens the immune system, making the people of this province more susceptible to the Coronavirus.
In recent years, as many as 20 children have drowned in Hootags which are dug by people to collect rainwater to be consumed by both humans and animals.[14] For example, in May 2019, three elementary school girls went to a Hootag to quench their thirst. They fell into the water and drowned.[15]
Deforestation and dual desertification
The progress of desertification in Iran’s soil occurs in a situation where the desert per capita in Iran is more than twice the global average.[16]
According to the data collected by the Natural Resources and Forestry Organization, the area of the northern forests has gone from 3,600,000 to 1,800,000 hectares during the past 40 years.[17] Some 100,000 hectares of forests are destroyed in Iran every year.[18]
Official reports from the Forest Organization say that Iran experienced more than 240 fires in the country’s natural areas from March to June 2020.[19]
Wetlands
Most of the wetlands in Iran are drying up.
Low water levels of Karun River caused by irresponsible official measures, have led to the drying of Hoor-ol Azim wetland, and contributed to the remarkable warming of weather in Khuzestan Province.
The oil-rich Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran is an embodiment of unstable development in the country. Despite abundant water, fertile soil, and oil and gas resources that could nourish all of Iran’s populace, lagoons and rivers in this province have dried up. Consequently, dust storms have crippled Khuzestan, for years.[20]
In the deprived province of Sistan and Baluchestan, Hamun Lake has dried up, creating a serious environmental crisis in this province.[21]
The famous Gavkhouni wetland and Bakhtegan Lake in Fars Province, southern Iran, are also drying up.[22]
Marine environment
The Caspian Sea’s coastline has been gradually and steadily disappearing in both Mazandaran and Gilan provinces in northern Iran.[23]
On the reduction of the water level of the Caspian Sea, the organizer of the International Project on the Effects of Caspian Sea Fluctuations on the Environment of the Coastal Areas, Homayoun Khoshravan, said: “We have very valuable environmental sectors, very important coastal wetlands such as Gorgan Bay, Miankaleh wetland, Bojagh National Park, Kiashahr Wetland and Zibakenar Wetland, each of which will dry up completely if this (water level reduction) happens. Their environmental services will be completely destroyed, causing serious damage to the country.[24]
The IRGC-linked Fisheries Organization has “rented out” Iran’s southern waters to Chinese fisheries allowing them to fish in Iran’s southern waters, causing major problems for Iranian fisherman.[25]
The Chinese bottom trawling methods and the industrial fishing practices of thousands of Chinese boats leave nothing for native fishermen. Even fish eggs, and shellfish get stuck in the Chinese trawling nets. The overfishing in the Gulf waters has led to serious and irreversible damage to the environment.
Environmental degradation in Iran which is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of environmental diversity, has endangered not only the interests of the Iranian people but also the interests of humanity in general.
Iran’s theocratic regime is not only the biggest sponsor of terrorism, but also the biggest destroyer of the environment, and it deserves to be audited by the relevant international agencies and organizations.
[1] The state-run website Gostaresh News, May 2, 2021
[2] The state-run Javan newspaper, May 20, 2021
[3] The state-run Mashreqnews.ir, June 26, 2018
[4] The state-run Etemadonline.ir, December 8, 2020
[5] Hamidreza Janbaz, Head of the Water and Sewage Company, the state-run ISNA news agency, August 8, August 8, 2018
[6] Isa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, the state-run ILNA news agency, October 11, 2016
[7] Majid Alipour, Director General of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad Tribal Affairs, the official IRNA news agency, April 23, 2018
[8] The state-run Qods Online, October 14, 2017
[9] Ahmad Reza Lahijanzadeh, deputy for Marine Environment and Wetlands in the Environmental Protection Agency, the state-run Mehr news agency, November 2, 2019
[10] Mojtaba Yousefi, member of the mullahs’ parliament from Ahvaz, The state-run Fars news agency, August 10, 2020
[11] The state-run salamatnews.com, July 4, 2020
[12] The official IRNA news agency, July 23, 2019
[13] Mo’ineddin Saeedi, member of the mullahs’ parliament from Chabahar, The state-run etemadonline.ir – October 21, 2020
[14] The official IRNA news agency, July 23, 2019
[15] The official IRNA news agency, May 29, 2019
[16] The state-run website Gostaresh News, May 2, 2021
[17] The state-run Hamshahrionline.ir, March 12, 2014
[18] The state-run Hamshahrionline.ir, March 12, 2014
[19] Reza Bayani, Director of the Engineering and Studies Office at the Forest Organization, the state-run IMNA news agency, August 26, 2020
[20] Ahmad Reza Lahijanzadeh, deputy for Marine Environment and Wetlands in the Environmental Protection Agency, the state-run Mehr news agency, November 2, 2019
[21] tribunezamaneh.com, June 7, 2018
[22] tribunezamaneh.com, June 7, 2018
[23] Ahmad Reza Lahijanzadeh, deputy for Marine Environment and Wetlands in the Environmental Protection Agency, the state-run Mehr news agency, November 2, 2019
[24] The official IRNA news agency, January 10, 2021
[25] The state-run Tabnak website, August 20, 2018
