Iran’s environment is in bad condition. That is something that these days the government is no longer able to deny.
The situation becomes worse when we know that the government is not caring about this issue, and in the past year, the country’s environmental situation has worsened.
All four indicators that reflect the state of Iran’s environment have a worrying outlook: soil, water, air, and biodiversity. In all four components, Iran’s situation is becoming more fragile. Iran has almost the highest rate of soil erosion in the world (relative to its share of the Earth’s landmass).
The issue becomes even more worrying when we know that for one centimeter of soil to form in Iran, it takes an average of 800 years, while the average figure for soil formation on Earth is 400 years. Therefore, the deterioration of the situation in Iran is 16 times the global average.
The rate of soil formation in Iran is between one-sixth and one-seventh of soil displacement, and the valuable resources of Iran’s soil, which is the most important source and reason for the people’s food security, are constantly declining.
If Iran does not have fertile soil, there is no hope to produce the people’s needed food. While the IRGC is exporting Iran’s soil, almost no country in the world exports its soil because the process of soil production is very time-consuming. While some countries export water because water is easier to obtain anyway.
Even in some cases, water can be desalinated and obtained from the oceans and seas, but this is practically impossible in the case of soil.
The level of Iran’s aquifers decreases by an average of 2 meters per year. This has led to the phenomenon of land subsidence. In this phenomenon, thanks to the government’s negligence they broke the world record twice in the 21st century. Once in 2010 in the south of Tehran, the Geological Survey announced subsidence of 36 cm, which was 4 cm more than Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. 36 cm is 90 times the critical level in the European Union which is there just 4 mm.
Even worse a region between Fasa and Jahron has reached the number of 54 cm per year which is 140 times more than the critical level. 35,000 villages have been abandoned because soil fertility has decreased. Air pollution is still a serious and breathtaking crisis. At least one of Iran’s cities is always one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world.
The $ 8 billion in air pollution damage is breathtaking. The government’s official statistics claim that just 35,000 people are killed by air pollution, but the fact is that when it is announced that 400,000 people have been killed by air pollution in the European Union and 50,000 by the United Kingdom, it is doubtful, for a government that is doing nothing about this situation.
In the field of biodiversity, the situation is worse than the other three areas and less attention has been paid to it. Compared to 47 years ago, it has decreased by 90%. This is a terrible number, and it is considered a collapse.
But that’s not all. Iran is losing all its water resources. Most of its rivers are dried up. The Chalous River has dried up for the first time in its history due to rent-seeking permits. It is said that the age of this river is the age of the northern forests. A river that originates from Kandovan in Mazandaran and flows into the Caspian Sea after flowing 85 km.
The IRGC-controlled private sector has built a 110-kilometer tunnel since 1995 to divert the river to eastern Mazandaran and Amol for agricultural purposes. 500 million cubic meters per year and harvest of 300 to 400 million cubic meters.
Iran’s Environment Agency, the Forests and Natural Resources Organization have become licensing bodies and have lost their essence of environmental protection.
The extent of deforestation in the north of the country and its natural resources is unbelievable, and now, with the onslaught of the “private sector”, deforestation, river dryness, and water transfer projects have doubled in intensity.
But that is not the end of this sad story here is another example. The infiltration of Ilam Petrochemical effluent into the Chavar River has been a serious alarm for many years; Ilam Petrochemical Plant produces significant amounts of solid waste and sludge every year, some of which can endanger rivers, countless fishes, and even the surrounding environment due to the presence of toxic material.
Governments in other parts of the world are doing their best for the aquatic animals to preserve these species and use them in the sustainable tourism industry, but in Iran’s geography, they are doomed to extinction.
Now the question is why Ilam Petrochemical, which has a daily income of billions of Tomans, cannot treat its effluent? Why is this large industrial unit unable to build a refinery? Questions like this and many more are questions that the government must respond to, but, according to Iran watchers, this is a hopeless demand from this regime.
