Environment

Al-Monitor – Iran’s southwest region has been rocked by four consecutive nights of protests over access to clean drinking water. According to activists, three people have been killed so far in the oil-rich region of Khuzestan, which is home to a sizable ethnic Arab minority.  According to Human Rights news agency, the protests have been centered in the cities of Susangerd …

Iranwire – over the ongoing water crisis took place in at least 17 different cities in Iran’s Khuzestan province on Sunday night. Videos and images posted online showed thousands of people marching through the streets, amid a heavy security presence. Last night protests broke out in the cities of Susangerd, Shush, Hamidiyeh, Al-Baji, Mahshahr, Shushtar, Abadan, Shadegan, Lali, Ahvaz, Karkheh, and Shavour. …

Al-Arabia – The death toll from street protests over water shortages in Iran’s oil-rich southwest rose to three, activists said on Saturday, as demonstrations continued for a third consecutive night. The protests began late on Thursday in multiple cities in Khuzestan province, including its capital, Ahwaz, and continued for a third consecutive night on Saturday. For the latest headlines, follow …

VOA – Protesters angry over water shortages marched through streets late Thursday in an oil-rich, restive province in southwestern Iran and police apparently fire weapons to disperse the crowds, online videos showed. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone had been wounded or arrested in the protests across multiple cities in Khuzestan province, including its capital, Ahvaz. Iranian state media had …

Iranwire – The secretary of Iran’s Natural Disaster Task Force has said hundreds of large plains in the country are at risk of subsidence due to decreased level of underground water. Ali Baitollahi, secretary of the nationwide working group, which was set up in 2002 and answers to the Interior Ministry, told ISNA news agency that no fewer than 609 tracts of …

Iranwire – In a flurry of reports Thursday, July 1, local media and environmentalists in Khuzestan once again raised the alarm about the water crisis threatening the province. The last month has seen the drying-up of the Karkheh and Zohreh riverbeds in western Khuzestan, as well as the Hur al-Azim wetlands and tributaries. A lack of water has put various …

Iranwire – In the next 20 years some Iranian cities might no longer be fit for human habitation because of drought and water shortages, warned Ahad Vazifeh, head of the National Center for Drought and Crisis Management at the Iran Meteorological Organization. In the past 12 months rainfall in Iran has 55 percent of the norm what it should have been, …

Iranwire – Last week a rickety bus carrying environmental journalists on a tour of West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran, overturned after an apparent brake fault. Two young female reporters for ISNA and IRNA were killed instantly, and dozens of others were injured. In the aftermath of the tragedy, a video circulated on social media in which Zeinab Rahimi, a reporter for ISNA, spoke in …

CHRI – Protests by hard-hit farmers over Iran’s worsening water crisis are being repressed by state security forces as officials increasingly describe the protests as a “national security” issue. Environmental scientist Kaveh Madani explained in an interview with the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) that a major portion of the Iranian population “has become directly dependent on water for its …

Iranwire – With the sharp decline in rainfall in Iran, officials in the country’s various water departments are reporting record-breaking low reserves and issuing warnings about the need to save water. Is this level of drought genuinely unexpected in Iran, or do officials bear a degree of responsibility for the ensuing water crisis? What overall impact will the decrease in …