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Iran’s Water Crisis Turns into a Catastrophe
April 24th, 2025
Via Iran Focus, an article on Iran’s water crisis: Amid continued warnings about water shortages and the drought crisis in Iran, Ahad Vazifeh, head of the National Center for Climate and Drought Crisis Management at Iran’s Meteorological Organization, said the country has turned into a “sieve” due to numerous illegal wells and excessive extraction from […]
Read more »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 […]
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