Vanishing Lake Urmia: environmental decline and neglect in Iran

Lake Urmia, located in northwestern Iran and once the sixth-largest saltwater lake globally, has fallen victim to environmental degradation and governmental negligence. Over the past few decades, this once-vibrant body of water has shrunk dramatically, leaving behind a desolate landscape, posing serious ecological and social challenges.

Decline of Lake Urmia

The decline of Lake Urmia can be traced back to a combination of factors, including disruptive dam-building and irrigation policies implemented by the Islamic Republic of Iran. These policies, driven by a desire for agricultural expansion and economic development, have significantly altered the natural flow of water into the lake, exacerbating its depletion. Moreover, the construction of infrastructure projects by various companies associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has further contributed to the lake’s demise. Another significant aspect concerns mulching. The arid regions surrounding Lake Urmia become saline, leading to the accumulation of salt. To mitigate this, a mulching process is implemented, which involves artificially isolating the affected area from the lake. However, this practice also contributes to the reduction of Lake Urmia’s overall surface area. In addition to the aforementioned cases, Baranduz River, constituting one of the 14 tributaries of Lake Urmia, is artificially blocked from feeding into the lake, a practice that is enforced even during the winter months. These projects, often undertaken without proper environmental assessments, have disrupted the delicate balance of the region’s ecosystem, hastening the decline of Lake Urmia.

Despite mounting concerns raised by local activists and environmental experts, the Iranian government’s response has been inadequate. While promises were made by officials, including Presidents Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Hassan Rouhani, to address the crisis and revive the lake, tangible progress has been lacking. On March 3, 2024 – on the occasion of Iran’s National Water Day, the Iranian Water Industry Federation (IWIF) presented a project to the public on water bodies and water supply-related problems in the country, but Lake Urmia was not among the covered cases. Efforts to allocate funds and implement restoration projects have fallen short, failing to halt the lake’s steady decline. Recent reports paint a grim picture of Lake Urmia’s current state. Satellite images and aerial footage reveal a desiccated landscape, with the lakebed exposed and water levels at an all-time low. By the fall of 2023, it was reported that the lake went dry after decades of continuous decline in water level. Claims by government officials that efforts are underway to revive the lake ring hollow in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. The water level of Lake Urmia has risen due to the fact that rainfall in the country has intensified in recent months, and the Iranian government seizes this opportunity for its propagandistic purposes as by attributing the improvement of the lake’s water volume to its own efforts.

Environmental experts, including Masoud Tajrishi of Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, warn that the situation is dire. The lake’s water level has plummeted by eight meters since 1995, coinciding with the construction of new dams and changes in agricultural practices following the Islamic Revolution of 1979. While some officials and media outlets affiliated with the Iranian government seek to blame climate change for Lake Urmia’s desiccation, the root causes lie in decades of environmental mismanagement and disregard for ecological sustainability.

Social and cultural tensions

In addition to the environmental crisis, the plight of Lake Urmia has sparked social and cultural tensions. Based on the outcomes of a study published in 2021, agricultural activity in the surrounding regions saw a decline by approximately 30%, and in the period 1996-2016, more than 12% of the villages in East Azerbaijan province lost their population, with roughly 500 villages being totally or partially depopulated. One of the main variables in this equation is the fact that Azeri Turks mainly inhabit those provinces, where the lake is situated. Azeri Turks of northwestern Iran, a Turkic-speaking minority that constitutes a fifth of the country’s population, see Lake Urmia as central to their heritage and identity. Local activists, who regard this topic as highly sensitive, have been organizing protests demanding its protection for decades. However, their efforts have been met with repression and intimidation by the authorities, highlighting broader issues of political oppression and human rights abuses. The regime’s reluctance to address the lake’s decline may stem from its fear of galvanizing broader movements for cultural and linguistic rights among the Azeri population.

The case of Lake Urmia is a perfect example of intersectionality between ethnic and ecological problems. Although it is obviously an issue related to environment and climate change, one cannot neglect the minority rights dimension. The fact that those most affected areas are primarily inhabited by Azeri Turks and to a degree by Kurds, another sizeable minority in Iran, raises the question of discrimination and second-class citizenship issues. The reaction of the central government could have been significantly different, provided that the mentioned provinces had a Persian majority. Worth to note that this ecological catastrophe is not the only problem Azeri community in Iran encounter. The lack of education in Azeri, native language of the Azeri minority, persists to remain unresolved. Even though this issue is mentioned during every election campaign in order to gain Azeri voters’ support, no Iranian politician yet decided to initiate a plan for a substantial change in educational system to make it more inclusive for minorities. Azeri Turkish is prohibited from being used in official documents and as a language of instruction at schools since the Pahlavi dynasty succeeded to get the power in the early 20thcentury. Islamic Republic kept this policy practically intact after the revolution, and therefore, Azeri Turkish eventually lost its charm and prestige, turning into a useless local language that mainly people residing in remote areas are willing to talk. In Iranian Azerbaijan, even assigning Azeri-Turkish names to newborn children is hindered through bureaucratic means; instead, it is incentivized to give names of Persian origin. In one occasion, a decree by the territorial court in Tabriz deemed names of Azeri-Turkish origin were classified as incompatible with Islamic principles. This linguistic dynamics mirrors the current social landscape of the Iranian society, where non-Persian ethnic groups, despite constituting half of the population, lack the privileges enjoyed by the Persian majority.

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Featured picture: depositphotos.com