TEHRAN – Iranian and Iraqi officials have discussed the challenges facing Hour al-Azim wetland, located on the border of the two countries, particularly drought and spontaneous combustion.

During a meeting held in Iraq, Iranian officials from the Department of Environment highlighted the provision of the wetland’s water rights by Iraq, the lack of which has so far dried up the wetland, leading to spontaneous combustion, releasing a large amount of air pollution and smoke, adversely affecting cities in Khuzestan province, doe.ir reported.

They also emphasized the significance of managing resources and water consumption in Tigris River to be able to supply the wetland’s water rights, and prevent the intensification of fire in the Iraqi part of the Hour al-Azim wetland, and stop pollutants migration towards Khuzestan province.

Iraqi officials representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs elaborated on the amount of water in the reservoirs of dams built across Tigris River, and the severe drought in the region, pledging to secure the water rights next year.

The two sides also discussed utilizing firefighting aircraft and helicopters to distinguish fire and manage the wetland.

Boosting scientific cooperation to address common environmental challenges was among the other issues discussed in the meeting.

Iran prioritizes co-op with Iraq to mitigate SDSs

As sand and dust storms (SDSs) hotspots in Iraq severely affect western and south-western regions, the administration underscores cooperating with Baghdad to address the problem.

On September 15, 2024, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a meeting with the head of the Department of Environment, Shina Ansari, highlighted that one of the main axes of cooperation with Iraq will focus on conducting joint environmental activities as well as following up on previous agreements made in this regard, IRNA reported.

A report published by four Iranian researchers suggests that the main sources of sand and dust storms affecting Iran are emerging from Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Titled ‘Dust in Western Iran: the emergence of new sources in response to shrinking water bodies’, the report written by Azar Beyranvand, Ghasem Azizi, Omid Alizadeh, and Ali Darvishi Boloorani was published by Nature on September 27, 2023.

“The most influential sources affecting Western Iran are located on the shore and northwest of Lake Tharthar, Hour-al-Azim Marsh, the shore of Razzaza, Habbaniyah Lakes, and West Hammar Marsh, which contributed to 110, 79, 59, 56, and 51 dusty days, respectively.”

Indeed, the peak dust activity in Western Iran was during the period 2008–2012 in response to the substantial shrinkage of the main water bodies in Iraq.

The main sources of dust influencing Western Iran are located in northern and eastern Saudi Arabia in spring, Deir ez-Zur in Syria’s Aleppo and Raqqa in summer, and Syria’s Homs and Al-Hasakah in winter and spring.

Western Iran here refers to the western half of Iran, which encompasses northwest, west, and southwest Iran. To identify dust events in western Iran during the period 2000–2016, meteorological data from 33 synoptic stations were obtained from the Meteorological Organization of Iran.

About 1133.5 km2 of regions in West Asia with permanent surface water in 1984 completely dried up in 2015 and acted as potential sources of dust.

Decreased precipitation in West Asia from autumn 2007 to 2012 and the occurrence of severe droughts have also contributed to the shrinkage of lakes and wetlands, as well as the reduced agricultural productivity in West Asia, all of which contributed to the intensification of dust activity in Western Iran in recent decades.

According to the results, the main sources of dust that influence Western Iran are located in Iraq. Decreases in the surface water of lakes in Iraq have led to the emergence of some new sources of dust, which contributed to a substantial increase in dust activity in western Iran in recent years.

MT/MG