Environment

Iranwire – Decades of misguided environmental policies have contributed to the air-pollution crisis in Iran, where Tehran and other major cities have long been among the world’s most polluted. Iranians decry that there had only been three days of clean air recorded in the capital during the last Persian year, which ended in March, and urge the authorities to do …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities have closed schools in Tehran and several other provinces due to a surge in air pollution. In the capital, all primary and secondary schools are closed on December 4, while children, pregnant women and individuals with heart or lung conditions are advised to avoid outdoor activities and wear masks in the streets. The deputy coordinator for …

VOA — An avalanche killed five mountain climbers and injured four others from an all-Iranian climbing team in west Iran, state media reported on Saturday. A report by the state-owned IRNA news agency said rescue teams recovered the bodies of five climbers from San Boran peak, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. The injured climbers were taken …

iranintl – An Iranian official has acknowledged that the country’s net electricity export has reached zero, due to internal power deficit. Official statistics indicate that during the last three years, Iran’s electricity exports were plunging gradually, while imports increased. Mohammad Elahdad, the Deputy for Transmission and Foreign Trade at the Energy Ministry, said on November 15 that now the net …

iranintl – Human-induced climate change including war and urbanization has played a major role in exacerbating a three-year drought in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Citing the findings of scientists from Iran, the UK, the US, and the Netherlands, World Weather Attribution reported that the drought spanning 36 months from July 2020 to June 2023, was “the second worst in the observed record.” …

Iranwire – The 2023-2024 water year, which started on October 1, was hardly four weeks old when Iran’s Lake Urmia, once the Middle East’s largest lake and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth, was reported to have gone dry. Studies show such an occurrence had not happened in 12,000 years. On October 9, as  secretary of the Headquarters to Revive Lake …

Iranwire – For over a decade, residents of the Iranian plateau, an arid and semi-arid region, have faced alarming developments concerning their most precious natural resource: water.  The dry region has been grappling with a myriad of water-related issues, including shortages, groundwater depletion, land subsidence, and the desiccation of vital lakes and marshes, such as Urmia, Hamoon, Bakhtegan, and Arjan. …

Iranwire – A fire that has been raging in the Iraqi part of the Hor al-Azim marshes since the afternoon of October 23 is emitting thick smoke that is polluting the air in Iranian cities of Hoveyzeh, Daasht Azadegan and Ahvaz. Farhad Gholinejad, deputy director of environmental protection for Khuzestan province, told ISNA news agency that the air quality in …

Iranwire – More than 2,200 people sought medical help for respiratory, cardiac and ocular issues caused by a dust storm in the north of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan. According to a September 24 statement from the Crisis Management Office of Sistan and Baluchistan Governorate, as many as 2,278 individuals sought medical assistance in hospitals and other healthcare …

Iranwire – Iranian security forces have reportedly detained at least 35 members of the Sabzchia Association, an environmental protection group in Kurdistan province. The environmentalists were apprehended on September 10 as they were attending the nongovernmental organization’s annual meeting in the western city of Marivan, according to the France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN). Those detained were transferred to the …