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Struggling Over Water, Losing It Through Evaporation: The Case of Afghanistan and Iran
January 30th, 2025
The long-standing water conflict between Iran (downstream) and Afghanistan (upstream) led to the 1973 Helmand Water Treaty, ensuring Iran a share of the Helmand River. However, prolonged #droughts and rising water demand are intensifying disputes with tensions reaching alarming levels. While both nations have built reservoirs to mitigate water shortages, evaporative losses from these reservoirs […]
Read more »The Shrinking Caspian Sea: An Environmental and Geopolitical Emergency
January 22nd, 2025
Via The Diplomat, an article on allowing the Caspian Sea to succumb to industrial exploitation and climate-induced desiccation would be an irreversible tragedy: Last month, an 18th-century 28-meter wooden shipwreck was discovered off the Mazandaran coast of the Caspian Sea in southern Iran. Operating under Russian influence, the ship likely comprised part of a merchant fleet carrying botanical […]
Read more »Climate Change—and Complacency—Is Drying Up the Caspian Sea
January 11th, 2025
Via World Politics Review, a look at how climate change – and complacency – is drying up the Caspian Sea: The Caspian Sea is a geographical marvel and a critical resource for the five countries—Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan—that border it. But the future of the world’s largest enclosed inland body of water is […]
Read more »Afghanistan Warns Iran After Criticism of Dam Project
January 8th, 2025
Via Dawn, a report on continued water tension between Afghanistan and Iran: The Afghan government warned Iran on Wednesday against “irresponsible comments” following Tehran’s criticism last week of an upstream dam being built by its neighbour. Water rights have long been a source of friction in ties between the two countries, which share a more than 900-kilometre […]
Read more »Iran Urges Afghanistan’s Compliance with International Rules on Border Rivers
January 5th, 2025
Via Tasnim News, a report that Iran has urged Afghanistan to comply with international rules on border rivers: The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry called on the Taliban to cooperate in maintaining the natural flow of water in shared border rivers and comply with international standards and environmental regulations regarding those rivers. In a […]
Read more »The Land Subsidence Crisis in Tehran: A Looming Environmental and Infrastructure Catastrophe
December 2nd, 2024
Via Iran News Update, a report on Tehran’s land subsidence crisis caused by excessive groundwater pumping: Tehran, Iran’s bustling capital with a population of nearly 9.8 million, is grappling with a silent yet devastating crisis: land subsidence. This phenomenon, largely driven by mismanagement of water resources and excessive extraction of groundwater, is causing widespread damage […]
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