Iran’s drive for ‘independent’ development, in the face of international pressure over the nuclear programme, has degraded its air, water and land

Sanctions are political tools aimed at isolating and hurting the target country’s economy, forcing it to change policy. But in the short run, a target country may adopt alternative, survivalist means to evade the grip of sanctions.

In the case of Iran, sanctions have increased a thirst for accelerated development to expand water-resource infrastructure, generate power, and secure food and energy for Iranians. With aggressive, home-grown policies Iran has managed to evade the sanctions to an extent, while overlooking the environmental consequences.

Turning petrochemical factories into oil refineries is one example. In 2010, Iran imported 40% of its consumer fuel. When President Barack Obama introduced penalties for selling petrol to Iran and imports fell by 75%, Iran responded by developing its own refining and producing what is today the major cause of its deadly air pollution. Reports suggest that Iran’s petrol contains ten times the level of contaminants of imported petrol and its diesel 800 times the international standard for sulphur.

Aggressive development of water infrastructure and handing substantial subsidies to farmers are other examples of strategies developed under pressures caused by the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war, international sanctions and the resulting threats to national food security. Iran is currently the third biggest dam builder in the world, with consequent overuse of fossil groundwater sources, drying of its major rivers, and destruction of wetlands, ironically in the country where the 1971 Ramsar Convention on the conservation of wetlands was signed.

Similarly, the other sectors of Iran’s environment have been seriously affected by policies that have overlooked the anthropogenic effects of aggressive development in an era when environmental preservation has seemed a distant priority under the limitations caused by sanctions.

Moreover, the United States has managed to restrict and even block environmental financial aid from major international institutions such as the United National Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility, which in theory should help developing countries build a better life with no restrictions. This has had further negative effects on Iran’s environment.

Despite international pressure, Iran has managed to continue exporting oil and gas, build refineries and become a major dam builder. The environmental dimensions of such “independent”, accelerated development include dramatically increased pollution, diminished water resources, accelerated deforestation and desertification, and increasing biodiversity losses.



Whether these consequences have been intended by those devising sanctions, as argued by some Iranian officials, the environmental effects go beyond Iran’s borders and last for generations. The recent US-China deal over reduction of greenhouse emissions, which may be a turning point in international climate change negotiations, shows a new maturity of political leaders in recognising that environmental issues are trans-boundary and that tackling them requires an international effort.

Iran’s environmental problems have not gone unnoticed by the international community. The World Health Organisation has rated four of Iran’s cities in the top ten most polluted cities in the world. Ahwaz, the oil and industrial city in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq, is the world’s most polluted city, with three times the concentration of pollutants as Beijing. Yasouj, another industrial city, has a large coal-burning power plant and is soon to be the site of a refinery.



In contrast, the other two Iranian cities in the top ten, Sanandaj and Kermanshah, are not home to large petrochemical or power plants. Their high air pollution has been attributed to substandard petrol. Surprisingly, Tehran does not make the list, although air pollution is directly responsible for 25% of deaths in the city and is so dire that parliamentarians have discussed relocating the capital.



In general, Iranians inhale a cocktail of rubber particles, asbestos, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and partially burnt remnants of hydrocarbons. Not surprisingly, cancer and respiratory illnesses - the second and third highest causes of death in Iran - are on the rise. Nearly 70,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year, a number that is likely to increase by 90% by 2020, according to the Cancer Research Centre of Iran.



Iran’s critical water crisis is another mark of environmental degradation. Lake and rivers are drying out. Lake Urmia, once the largest salt lake in the Middle East, is nearly gone. Zayandeh Rud, literally the “river that gives birth” in central Iran, once the centre of Persian civilisation, is dry most of the year. Wetlands are drying one after another and water quality is degrading in some populous areas.



As a result of diminished surface water, Iran is experiencing more frequent dust storms. These are extremely unpleasant, hurt agriculture and livestock, decrease the quality of life of inhabitants, and eventually force out-migration. The shrinking of surface water sources has encouraged aggressive extraction of non-renewable groundwater resources, making Iran one of the world’s top groundwater miners, with declining groundwater levels causing major subsidence in some areas. Some estimates suggest 70% of Iran’s groundwater resources have been used and that groundwater shortage and quality may be the next national environmental tragedy that Iranians will face.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Koushki, a 7-year-old male Asiatic Cheetah, crouches at the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in Jajarm, northeastern Iran. The Asiatic Cheetah has disappeared across south and central asia except fewer than 100 remaining in Iran. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

Rapid urbanisation, industrial pollution, waste disposal, overgrazing, deforestation, land degradation, and soil erosion are all affecting Iran’s remarkable biodiversity at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Flora and fauna have been damaged at an alarming rate due to the destruction of natural habitats. The Asiatic cheetahs, Asiatic black bear, goitered gazelle, and Persian wild ass are among the species pushed to extinction through irreversible man-made processes.



Whether or not a resolution of the nuclear standoff is reached and sanctions eased, Iran’s environmental problems cannot be tackled without serious determination and substantial investment. While sanctions are not the main cause of Iran’s environmental problems, they have exacerbated the situation and will affect the quality of life and health of many future generations of Iranians who have had no involvement in the nuclear policies and might not yet even have been born.



There is another dimension: environmental problems do not recognise political boundaries. Iran has not been immune from the effects of instability in neighbours Afghanistan and Iraq. Chaos in Afghanistan and the boundary conflict over the Hirmand (Helmand) River have contributed to the drying of Lake Hamun in eastern Iran, making farming no longer possible and precipitating dust storms that are forcing people to migrate.



The west of Iran has been suffering dust storms caused by the degrading land management and drying marshlands of Iraq. These storms are one of the major causes of air pollution in Tehran, although it is 550km from the border.



Similarly, Iran’s major environmental problems - increased air pollution, biodiversity losses, desertification, deforestation, and drying water resources - will cross boundaries with major regional and even global implications, even though sanctions were supposed to hurt only Iran.



The debate on sanctions, understandably, is far too often focused on economic and political effects. The past decades in Iran and the rest of the region have proved that both the imposer and the target of sanctions overlook their environmental consequences.



Although environmentally sustainable economic growth and climate change have entered the agenda of high politics, as manifested by the US-China deal, there remains little hope that the nuclear negotiations and any deal between Iran and the P5+1 (the permanent members of the UN security council plus Germany) will include any serious environmental component.



Kaveh Madani is a lecturer in Environmental Management at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London



Nazanin Soroush is a Middle East political analyst

