Every year on June 17, the World Day to Combat Desertification serves as an opportunity to focus on one of the world’s greatest environmental threats. For Iran, however, this day is not merely an international observance; it is a reminder of a crisis whose effects are visible every day in the lives of millions of people, from dust storms and the drying of farmland to rural migration and threats to the country’s food security.
Iran has long been located within the world’s arid belt, but what is being witnessed today is not merely the result of climatic conditions. Many experts believe that a significant part of the current crisis is the product of decades of mismanagement, unscientific decision-making, and the Iranian regime’s destructive policies in the fields of water and the environment.
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According to official statistics, of Iran’s 164 million hectares of land area, about 32 million hectares consist of desert lands, and half of that area is in a critical condition and has become a source of dust storms.
Studies by the University of Tehran and Iran’s Ministry of Energy also show that about 88% of the country’s territory has been affected by desertification.
Iran on the path to desertification
Researchers have stated that Iran ranks fifth in the world in terms of desert expansion, with about 40 hectares of land turning into desert every day.
In addition, about 100 million hectares of Iran’s land are affected by water erosion, while more than 20 million hectares face wind erosion. Soil erosion in some parts of the country has been estimated at up to six times the global average.
The main question, however, is why a country with such extensive natural resources has reached this point.
Experts have repeatedly warned that excessive extraction of groundwater, extensive dam construction without environmental assessments, unscientific water transfer projects, the destruction of wetlands, unregulated mining, and the conversion of rangelands into agricultural fields have been among the main factors intensifying desertification in Iran. Many of the country’s wetlands, including Hoor al-Azim, Gavkhouni, Bakhtegan, and Jazmourian, have faced severe drying in recent years, and these areas have now become major sources of dust storms.
Alongside this mismanagement, structural corruption has also played a significant role. Many infrastructure and water projects have been carried out not based on environmental needs but on the economic and political interests of powerful factions.
The ruling establishment’s neglect of this problem is evident in the fact that the budgets allocated to combat the phenomenon are not even equal to the price of a domestically manufactured car. For example, according to the governor of Dehloran County, only 30 billion rials (about $17,000) from government development funds were allocated last year for desertification control projects in the county.
According to a report by Iran’s Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, the direct damage caused by wind erosion and the expansion of deserts is estimated at no less than 30 trillion rials (approximately $17 million) annually. This figure represents only part of the economic losses and does not include damage to agricultural lands, rangelands, roads, railway lines, industrial facilities, or the costs of treating respiratory illnesses caused by dust storms, unemployment, poverty, and widespread rural migration.
The real cost of these policies is ultimately paid by the Iranian people through declining agricultural production, the destruction of rangelands, rising respiratory diseases, unemployment, poverty, and the widespread migration of rural populations.
