Iran Sees 'Revival' of Imperilled Lake Urmia

It is one of the worst ecological disasters of recent decades, but the shrinking of Iran's great Lake Urmia finally appears to be stabilizing and officials see the start of a revival.

A rusty cargo ship and a row of colorful pedal boats lying untouched on the bone-dry basin are a sign of the devastating loss of water in what was once the largest lake in the Middle East. 

Situated in the mountains of northwest Iran, Lake Urmia is fed by 13 rivers and designated as a site of international importance under the UN Convention on Wetlands that was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.

The lake has been shrinking since 1995, according to the UN Environment Program, due to a combination of prolonged drought, over-farming and dams.

By August 2011 the lake's surface was 2,366 square kilometres (914 square miles) and shrank drastically to just 700 km2 in 2013, according to the United Nations.

The catastrophe has threatened the habitat of shrimp, flamingos, deers and wild sheep and caused salt storms that pollute nearby cities and farms.

That finally triggered a coordinated effort to save the lake in 2013—with a joint program between Iran and the UN Development Program funded by the Japanese government.

The project became a priority for the incoming administration of President Hassan Rouhani. 

"One of my promises was to revive Urmia lake, and I am still committed to that promise," Rouhani said during a recent visit to the region. 

Some positive results are finally emerging and the lake's surface area reached 2,300 km2 last year, according to UN Development Program figures.

"This is the beginning of the lake's revival," said Abolfazl Abesht, who heads the wetlands unit of Iran's environment department.

He warned it would take "decades" to return to the 5,000 km2 it once covered, but at least "now the trend has stopped".

Sustainable Farming

Rising temperatures and reduced rainfall have been a major factor in the lake's decline, experts say. 

So, too, was the construction of a causeway in 2008 to shorten driving times between Urmia and the nearby city of Tabriz that cut the lake in two.

But people were also a major part of the problem due to a rapid rise in the population and farming around the lake, which provides a livelihood to some six million people. 

The rejuvenation effort therefore focused on redirecting rivers to irrigate farmland, thus avoiding use of water from the lake, and the promotion of more sustainable farming methods. 

“Almost 85 percent of the water is used for agriculture, and we are trying to help farmers reduce usage through cheap and effective techniques," said Abesht. 

Measures such as using natural instead of chemical fertilizers, or leveling the land to avoid run-off, have shown major improvements for local farmer Afshin Medadi.

The 47-year-old had to invest in new equipment, but says "things are more cost-effective now", with his farm using a tenth of the water.

There has also been a noticeable reduction in the salt and dust pollution whipped up from the desiccated lake floor during storms, he added. 

Others have launched their own green initiatives.

One group of 20 women set up a collective to raise awareness among lakeside communities about water waste, and encourage the production of handicrafts to boost sustainable employment. 

One of the organisers, 39-year-old Kobra Asghari from the village of Gharehgozlou, hopes industries such as carpet and doll-making can gradually overtake traditional farming. 

They are also encouraging women to plant less thirsty crops such as saffron and olives.

“We gradually managed to encourage the men to do the same," she said. 

"People are paying more attention to their environment and the dying ecosystem."

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Risks Losing 70% of Farmlands: Environment Chief

Iran faces losing 70 percent of its farmlands if urgent action is not taken to overcome a litany of climate woes, the country's environment chief Isa Kalantari told AFP.

The Islamic Republic is grappling not only with air, water and soil pollution, as well as drought and desertification, but also with the effect of years of crippling US and international sanctions.

Adding to the dire situation, "we currently use about 100 percent of our renewable water ... according to global standards this figure should not be higher than 40 percent," said Kalantari, vice president and head of Iran's Environment Department, in an exclusive interview in Tehran.

"The excessive consumption of water, especially from groundwater is a threat and could have terrible social consequences," he warned.

If the situation is not brought under control, then "we would lose about 70 percent of our cultivated land in a maximum of 20 to 30 years."

"The south of Alborz and east of Zagros, if we don't take swift action, will become unusable for agriculture," Kalantari added.

Alborz and Zagros are mountain ranges in the north and west of Iran respectively. The majority of Iran's mostly arid land mass and population centres are located to the south and east of them.

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, Iran, a country of some 80 million people, predominantly relies on agriculture.

Past Errors

Kalantari said there had been many years of mismanagement of water resources, and mistaken decisions forced by political and economic concerns such as the US sanctions and climate change.

“We basically thought that environment was not that important," he said.

Other countries had also failed to address climate issues introducing policy errors in the 1960s and 1970s.

"We made these mistakes in the 1980s. Then we came to realize that in places that we'd built dams, we shouldn't have built any, and in places where we should have built dams, we didn't build any," he said.

The pressure on the country's resources has also been exacerbated by population growth, with Iranians encouraged to have large families in the years following its 1979 Islamic revolution.

“In the first decade after the revolution, we encountered a high population growth rate, more than three percent annually," Kalantari said.

This policy was taken "without paying attention to utilising and improving" the use of resources, he said.

He also highlighted the effects of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), when the country was isolated and could not concern itself with sustainable development as it had a burgeoning population to feed.

"Iran could not, and cannot, bear the pressure that this (population growth) exerted on the consumption of water, for the supply of food and for agriculture," he added.

The strain has shown recently with Iranians taking to the streets in December and January this year, protesting over economic conditions.

A former agriculture minister in the 1990s, Kalantari said Iran could not be self-sufficient in food production for its estimated 80 million people "if we want sustainable policies".

Even with state-of-the-art technology, Iran could only be completely self-sufficient to supply food for 50 to 55 million people.

Sanctions Hit

He also blamed some of the country's air pollution woes on biting sanctions.

"Locally-produced car engines are not up to standard, so when sanctions are imposed, car manufacturers such as Peugeot and Renault depart," said Kalantari.

The two carmakers suspended operations in Iran after Washington withdrew from a ground-breaking nuclear deal earlier this year and reimposed sanctions, as European leaders have so far failed to gain any exemptions for their firms.

A lack of new cars prompts Iranians to "use domestically-made engines" which do not adhere to modern environmental standards.

The resulting pollution frequently hangs heavily over the capital Tehran, with smog often rendering the mountains to the north invisible, while there have been growing cases of people hospitalized with respiratory problems.

Photo Credit: IRNA