The destructions and losses that the mullahs’ rule in Iran has imposed on the country and the people are uncountable. One of them is the environmental destruction which is so horrible that even the regime’s officials and state media cannot close their eyes on it, because they are annihilating the future of the upcoming generations.
If this situation continues, in one hundred year there will be no country left for the people, and Iran will become a lifeless desert.
The state-run Aftab Yazd daily acknowledges and warns of the tragedy as follows: “After all, the role of politicians in this catastrophic tragedy is an indisputable fact and truth! Many politicians who are queuing up for the presidency these days need to answer these questions. What measures have been taken for optimal water management, watershed management and water damming? What do they say about solving the national problem of drought, which, if left unchecked, will be a terrible calamity for the future generations?” (Aftab-e-Yazd, May 20, 2021)
Abbas Akhoondi, Minister of Roads and Urban Development, referring to the destruction of 88,000 hectares of national lands between 1973 and 2013, which accelerated after 2003 with the appointment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as mayor and in 2005 with his presidency, emphasizes that this process of wasting Iran’s natural resources under the guise of making something revolutionary is continuing with the decisions of the current parliament secrecy and is being pursued and implemented.
“Pursuant to Article 9 of the Housing Production and Supply Plan, which was approved by the parliament on February 14, 2021, it was decided that the Forests, Rangelands and Watershed Management Organization must deliver the national lands located within the city limits, as well as lands approved by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development for urban development projects outside the cities, to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development within a maximum of two months.”
But, the destruction is not limited to this. Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, a state-affiliated environmental expert, “points to the seriousness of the water shortage crisis in the central, eastern and southern regions of the country, where 360 square meters of Iranian nature is disappearing every second.” (Javan, May 30, 2021)
Referring to the uncontrolled abstraction of industries from the country’s surface water resources, he said: “During these years, due to the lack of supervision of the responsible organizations, the life of the Iranian plateau has been endangered and has become a place for political, economic and social conflicts inside the country.
“Groundwater resources in Iran are not in a better situation than surface water resources. Excessive abstraction of groundwater reserves in recent years has led to subsidence and soil salinity, and this issue has posed a serious threat to the future of food and human security in the Iranian plateau. The rate of groundwater depletion in Iran is more than 74 billion cubic meters, and the overdrafts have been three times the compensation and replacement of groundwater in the country.”
Isa Kalantari, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, comparing the current situation of Iran with the year 1981, said:
“In 1981, we had a total negative balance of 200 million cubic meters of water per year, but this figure has reached 20 billion cubic meters; That means it has increased 100 times.”
“Encroachment to fossil water and pumping it to the surface, use of this water for production, unscientific use of surface water, disregard for the right to environmental water, unsustainable dams and disregard for the right to nature” are just a few facts which are counted by him as the cause of this destruction.
He pointed to the regime’s violation of international laws and disrespecting them and said: “Under the 1992 Rio Agreement, ratified by the United Nations in 1997, countries have the right to use only 40 percent of their renewable water resources; We have been using more than 100 percent of our renewable water capacity for years.” (IRNA, May 18, 2021)
He, who has been the Minister of Agriculture for 12 years, emphasized that Iran’s nature has fallen victim to the country’s macro-policies and wrong decisions. He also offered a horizon for such policies and said:
“Twenty billion cubic meters of natural resources and groundwater are extracted annually, and water resources are looted. With this trend, for another 20 years (2041) there will be no trace of agriculture around the Zagros because we are looting water resources.”
About Iran’s water resources, he added: “Unfortunately, we destroyed nature. We had 500 billion cubic meters of fossil water resources, of which 300 billion cubic meters were salty and 200 billion cubic meters were sweet, and we ran out these 200 billion cubic meters. We have blocked the flow of water and we no longer have running water, the rivers of Iran are dead, except for Sefidrud and Karun rivers, which are taking their last breathes, the rest of the rivers do not reach their destination and are not alive.” (State-run daily Javan, May 20, 2021)
In the middle of this destruction, the regime energy minister also warned that this summer would be one of the driest in five decades.
“The water year 2020-2021 will be one of the worst water years in Iran. And this critical situation can have a negative impact on drinking water supply.” (IRNA, May 18, 2021)
In the last 40 years, mismanagement of water resources and dam construction and water transfer programs and inappropriate agricultural practices, along with the destruction of a significant part of Iran’s forests and natural resources, climate change, all, and countless other things, are included in the confessions of the regime’s Environment Organization chief, and finally he admitted:
“In the policies that have led to the destruction of Iran’s environment, we, the officials of the last 40 years, must be accountable to history and to the decisions that have been taken on a large scale and have destroyed the country naturally.” (IRNA, May 17, 2021)
