Environment

Iranwire – Iran’s Ministry of Health has attributed a staggering 13.9 percent of all natural deaths in the country to air pollution.  “Tehran ranks 19th among the world’s worst capitals in terms of concentration of suspended particles,” Abbas Shahsavani, who heads the ministry’s air health and climate change group, told Tasnim news agency on January 16. According to him, the …

iranintl – Water management researcher Aida Tavakoli calls the current condition of Lake Urmia “an ecological disaster” as the Middle East’s once second largest lake disappears. Tavakoli blamed the shrinking on several factors including mismanagement, drought, and increased water diversion for irrigated agriculture within the lake’s watershed. “Like all totalitarian regimes, food self-sufficiency has been a core priority of the …

iranintl – Videos have shown trucks around Lake Urmia allegedly carrying titanium, sparking fears its mining may be destroying the Middle East’s once largest lake. Iran Briefing, a group of investigative journalists, have speculated that authorities have been mining titanium, present in the northwestern lake, which could explain why the once thriving salt-lake has dried up.  Although there has been no official response …

iranintl – Twenty years since a 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook Bam city in southeast Iran, killing 34,000, fears of a repeat loom large amid Iran’s dire corruption.  Earthquake mortality has been found to be higher in countries where corruption is high and in the past 30 years, 83% of all earthquake-related deaths have occurred in anomalously corrupt countries, according to a 2011 report. …

RFL/RE – Record temperatures, prolonged droughts, and the drying up of rivers and lakes are displacing tens of thousands of Iranians each year, experts say. Many of the climate migrants are farmers, laborers, and fishermen who are moving with their families from the countryside to major urban areas in Iran in search of alternative livelihoods. To mark International Migrants Day …

RFL/RE – The water level in Iran’s reservoirs has seen a steep decline due to an increased production of hydroelectricity amid shortages prompted by high temperatures, drought, and mismanagement. The ISNA news agency on December 17 reported that the water volume in Iran’s hydroelectric plant reservoirs is currently at 40 percent capacity — a dangerously low level.Official data reveals that while the …

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 …