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Can’t Wash, Can’t Farm: Iranians Battle ‘Water Bankruptcy’
March 22nd, 2025
Via Context, a look at Iran’s growing water scarcity crisis: Iranians urged to cut water use as dam levels fall Nationwide water shortage cripples farmers Shortfall resembles ‘overdrawn bank account’ As Iranians scrubbed their homes and hosed their gardens ahead of Persian New Year celebrations, they were told to slash their water use if the […]
Read more »The Thirst for Power: Overcoming the Politics of Water in the Middle East
March 10th, 2025
Via CSIS, a new report on the politics of water in the Middle East: The Middle East has battled water insecurity for centuries, but today, the region is on a razor’s edge. Climate change and overuse have threatened water supplies like never before. In a region beset with wars, fragility, and political tensions, it is […]
Read more »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 […]
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