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| Left: Aral sea, Uzbekistan main water source, drained by Stalin to irrigate cotton fields (vice.com). Right: Lake Orumieh, Iran is drying out due to water planning neglect (guardian) |
The Islamic Republic has for years pursued a policy of diverting water from water rich areas to distant cities to make up for water shortage in more arid areas.
The Government is diverting water from "Azande rood and Karoon" in vast and ill conceived grand water projects which impact farmers and local echo systems.
Farmers from the province of Isfahan clashed with police on Wednesday after 40 days of protest over water diversion to Yazd. An unknown number of protesters was injured (1,2).
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ZtBN1g6qQ
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ZtBN1g6qQ
Ahwaz and Isfahan after the IR:
References:
(1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2013/02/130228_em-iran-esfahan-water-yazd-farmers.shtml
(2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2013/02/130228_l93_isfahan_farmers_security.shtml
Photo source: cais-soas.com, flicker.com, dreamstime.com, ISNA
19 comments:
Climate change, a larger population with many more people now living in urban centers is in no way only happening to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Even more severe transformations are impacting parts of China and India. Farther into this century will be more and more of a challenge, especially for Asia.
Oh, and did you know Stalin was Iranic? He was more than half Ossetian, an Iranic people.
Mark, the facts about the disastrous impact of Iran's ambitious water projects is there for all to see. Blaming it on nature just won't wash!
This regime is destroying Iran in more ways than we can post here. No amount of half-finished concrete buildings will make up for that.
First these mullah's ruined Kazakhstan...Now they are ruining Iran. Next they will ruin Mission Viejo. Goddamn these mullahs.
I WOULD HAVE wished to bring on some twenty pictures of drying lakes and rivers RIGHT from the Limpopo to the Ganges and the whole world just to show how climate change has ravaged this planet!, BUT ,IT WOULD be an effort in futility as you have already made up your mind TO ARREST YOUR COMMON SUSPECT-the IR!!.
to blame the ir for economic projects designed to help people based on sound scientific ideas of the past and in a complex natural situation is really just low
the idea that these water projects even if they were responsible for some of what you claim yes when these water projects in 1980s and early 1990s were still good ideas, and comparably in terms of economic development they were to most cheapest efficient ideas at the time acrooss the world
Typical apologist.
B.M.A...We are not discussing the Ganges or the Limpopo here!
We are discussing about the state of the environment under the Islamist rapists.The Islamist Rapists are raping the people from their rights.The Islamist Rapists are cutting down the forests and diverting ancient water supplies and running the country into the ground.
Youtube....Graphic.Iran Esfehan 27.02.2013 Angry farmers attacks,sec forces,set buses on fire.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kcs1SRFhTs
Goddamn the mullahs and their minions.
Who you want to blame then? The regime is responsible for this because most of the water sources have been diverted elsewhere.The sea will become a desert then the winds will blow the sands across the farmlands and create new deserts there.
This can be rectified if they allow the waters to flow back into the inland sea again.
BUT big Daddy refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol,and HE continues to pursue activities that contribute global warming!,BUT daddy has no referee ,nor linesman to warn him since he is the big boss!,HE continues to test fire nuclear missiles,upgrades existing ones,dumps nuclear waste in the high seas the world over with impunity!.
@the good thing about BIG daddy is that his shelve life is very NIGH!!
-YET THE SAD THING ABOUT HIM IS THAT HE WANTS TO TAKE the whole world down stream!!
@Yossarian 2:53
Using the word "mullah" to defend the mullahs was orignial a year ago. You need new tactics to defend the regime.
BAHAHAHA!!! Your so funny, Rear Admiral Jabbar Fazeli, MD! I actually think your comparison of the current government of Iran to that of the former Soviet Union is spot on. There are in fact many, many similarities to such an extent that way back in the magical year of 2002, none another than Dr.Paul Wolfowitz contrasted Iran as a modern day "mini" Soviet Union for all intents and purposes.
Regardless though, the Earth's climate is changing, and resources are finite. I expect wars to be fought over such things by the major and minor world powers, as the new century progresses.
@yossarian 2:13
Interesting!
Your original comment clearly implies that we shouldn't blame the "mullahs".
If you are not a government supporter in disguise, then you are really schizophrenic in your views.
Nope. I'm a realist.
B.M.A,you sure you've taken your medication?
Sorry Fazel,
But your before and after pictures dont actually demonstrate an etiology behind the causes of water shortages in Iran, they just show a change occured. Your oversimplification is a bit unacademic and simplistic. There have been numerous academic papers and research from all around the world on the subject. Their conclusions on the causes are very different than yours. The fact of the mater is the lakes and rivers have been drying up all over the world due to climate change. The fact that you dispel this factor outisde of "IR Government policies" shows you have an agenda and are just here to make political points and not to get at the root of the mater. No one says the current gov didnt contribute and didnt make mistakes. But this process began in the 1960s and the turning point was the land reforms of the shah.
1) The average Iranian uses per capita more water than the world average. Japan is a wet country and people use more gallons per capita than the Japanese. Therefore while some gov policies did contribute, the practices of the average Iranian outside of the government. Conservation is not something Iranians listen to very much and ads one sees on bilboards and TV fall on deaf ears.
2) Agriculture development and food security is a huge contribution. Farms require water and farmland has dramatically increased in size thus absorbing more water. Farmers have been picking crops that require lots of water. Thus ultra cheap prices of water to farmers and the average citizen results in a wasteful society. The government has been promoting crops such as wheat instead of rice and grapes, but the farmers wont listen. Even the UN and foreign experts who have visited the farms have said the main problem in water in Iran are farmerswho refuse to listen to experts or the government.
This is an excellent lecture on water management in Iran by Kaveh Madani who is a professor of Environmental management from UC Davis and the U of Florida. His hour long presentation at the Iran Heritage Foundation in London goes into very good detail as to all the factors at play here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIY3JErgEqY
Mr Fazeli can we please dispense with all the sensationalism with your titles and posts, the entire American southwest's water management system is based exactly on this exact same "stalinist" water diversion models.
Perhaps you should read about California's federal "Central Valley Project" (CVP) and the state water projects (SWP). 60% of the fruits and vegetables of the US and 25% of its nuts come from these "stalinistic" projects that provided the farmers in dry arid regions of California with water needed to grow crops and hydroelectric plants to generate electricty.
And yes many rivers and lakes in California have dried up as a result.
@Anonymous March 1, 2013 at 9:43 AM
The lake has been drying out for 50 years now and started a couple decades before the revolution. This regime wasnt around then to blame. This subject of Urmia has been studied now for a long time. There are conferences on the subject with experts from around the world, The U.N. is even involved, the overwhelming pattern is that the
1) farmers are the main culprits to blame because they plant crops that require lots of water, and that they ignore the Iranian government's call to plant different crops like wheat that dont need so much water. BUT YOU CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS FACT and blame the government for Farmers practices. According to the UN food and Agriculture organization 98.5 % of farms in Iran are under private ownership.
http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/iran/index.stm
2) The average Iranian uses 250 L/day of water, well above the world average. twice as much as the average Japanese. Despite radio and newspaper, billboard ads and public service announcements by the Iranian gov, consumption remains unacceptably high. Tap water consumption in the country is 70% over and above the global average. BUT YOU CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS FACT and blame the government for Iranians being wasteful taking long showers and using hoses to wash the sidewalk (ab o jaroo) sweeping their
3) There is worldwide global warming and desertification all over the world due. Lakes all over the world including the US and Israels dead sea, gallillee are drying up. But again you chose to ignore that. Iran is the one exception according to you where global warming should be ignored so we can blame the government. Of course you dont blame the US for its role in global warming. The republicans deny it even exists.
What exactly do you wish the government to do? send in the Basij and arrest farmers who ignore calls to be more efficient? Do you expect the government to Arrest people in the general population who waste water. The reality is Iran is having the same problems today with water that California is, decreased precipitation combined with a private agriculture sectore that has a high demand for water and isnt willing to follow government regulations to curtail water waste.
Secondly the government isnt "hush hush" about this issue. (see the videos below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKizB6eJuMY
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvn6uVopym0
Hopefully the Farmers are starting to change their habits
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/03/us-iran-water-crisis-idUSKBN0G30C620140803
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