Environment

PayvandNews – Iran water crisis (source: cover of Iranian economic magazine Tejarate Fard) By Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (source: LobeLog)   The most important sentence in the Persian language is arguably “Baba ab dad.” The sentence means “father gave water.” It is the first sentence taught to Iranian children when they are learning to read and write. Beyond its phonetic simplicity, it …

RFL/RE – Oil slicks on the water surface around a sunken Iranian tanker in the East China Sea are expanding, Chinese authorities reported, raising environmental concerns. China’s State Oceanic Administration said that it had found an 18-kilometer-long slick east of where the vessel sank, and another slick that was almost 15 kilometers long southwest of the site. Another slick with …

PayvandNews – It is all over the news in Iranian media. Iran is unprecedentedly suffering from low precipitation and experiencing a prolonged drought. Deciding whether the use of the word “unprecedentedly” is scientifically accurate or not is not a job that can be done by the press. It certainly needs extensive, reliable geological and meteorological data to confirm the claims. …

RFL/RE – Chinese ships are racing to clean up a massive oil spill after an Iranian tanker sank in the East China Sea. Two ships sprayed chemical agents aimed at dissolving the oil, China Central Television reported on January 15. The 120-square-kilometer oil slick is thought to be made up of heavy fuel that was used to power the Sanchi …

AL-Monitor – Iran’s air pollution crisis, which claimed more than 4,800 lives in 2016, has become yet another area for scoring political points for both the Reformists and the Principlists, much like almost everything else in Iran. Ever since the Reformists took over the presidency and the capital city, they no longer criticize the administration or the municipality for not …

PayvandNews – Nearly 96 percent of Iran’s total area is suffering from different levels of prolonged drought, the director for drought and crisis management department of Iran’s Meteorological Organization said. Referring to Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) over the past 84 months, Shahrokh Fateh said drought severities range from abnormally dry to moderate, severe and even extreme drought. SPEI is designed to …

Al-Arabia – An Iranian oil tanker ablaze off the Chinese coast is at risk of exploding or sinking, authorities said Monday, as they reported there was no sign of survivors 36 hours after the vessel erupted in flames. A huge fire was still raging around the stricken ship, which had been carrying 136,000 tonnes of light oil, with fierce heat …

Al-Monitor  – Soil and water are natural resources pivotal to the survival of any country. They constitute the key elements of agriculture, which no one doubts is important. Experts say that soil is even more important than water because the latter is recoverable but the first is not. They argue that it is crucial to preserve soil, as the formation of each centimeter …

PayvandNews – Schools have been closed on Tuesday in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Urmia, and Arak and sports events have been cancelled as a result of heavy air pollution. Schools have been closed on Tuesday in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Urmia, and Arak and sports events have been cancelled as a result of heavy air pollution. Urmia in northwestern Iran The authorities …

telesurtv – “Iran has already suffered from the loss of the Asiatic lion and the Caspian tiger. Now we are about to see the Asiatic cheetah go extinct as well.” Asiatic cheetahs are facing the threat of being extinct, following the United Nations decision to discontinue funding its protectorship. Conservationists believe that fewer than 50 of these ‘big cats’ remain …