Environment

Radiofarda – Kaveh Madani, a young Iranian environmental scientist living abroad who returned home full of hope last year to serve as the vice-chairman of Iran’s Department of Environment, resigned April 19 on Twitter while outside the country. The scandal surrounding his departure again brings to light a question that the Iranian diaspora has been debating for decades: Does one …

VOA —Workers in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan have launched an extended protest against water shortages and nonpayment of wages. Social media users who contacted VOA Persian said farmers from the town of Bavi protested for a third straight day outside a local government building in nearby Ahvaz city on Monday. They said the farmers complained of not receiving enough …

PayvandNews- More than 700 Iranian celebrities and environmentalists have signed a letter calling on President Hassan Rouhani to legally shed light on the case of 13 environmental activists arrested on espionage charges some 90 days ago.

Radiofarda  – Iran is facing its harshest drought in the last 50 years, and nearly half the country’s population will soon face water shortages, according to the Energy Ministry.

PayvandNews – Some 18 wetlands in Iran are completely dried up and some 24 are in critical condition, deputy chief of the Department of Environment, Masoud Tajrishi, has said. Tajrishi highlighted that the wetlands in Iran are not in a good condition and if the current trend of low precipitation continues the wetlands will turn to hotspots for sand and …

Iran-HRM – A city official in Ahwaz said that skin diseases and hepatitis have increased due to a decrease in the quality of drinking water as a result of the mixing of water and sewage in some poverty stricken areas in Ahwaz.

VOA – A senior Iranian environmental official whose activism and Western connections drew strong criticism from conservatives has revealed that he has left his post and departed the country.

Al-Monitor – The young deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment, Kaveh Madani, has decided to resign and leave the country following increasing pressure from hard-liners. Before moving back to Iran, Madani — who has been described by Iranian media as a “genius” — was an environmental management lecturer at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom. He was named …

Iran-HRM – At around 3 am, on Sunday April 15, agents of the Intelligence Agency raided farmers’ home in Khorasgan in Isfahan and detained a number of them. Reports indicate that 10 farmers were detained during the raid. According to a source a number of those arrested were identified by the police for only being present in the Khorasgan area …

voanews – WASHINGTON — Iran’s central province of Isfahan has seen a second consecutive day of street protests against water shortages, as lawmakers warned that millions of residents will have no tap water as soon as next month.