by Khalil Khani
Two major environmental hazards are affecting planet earth in developing world countries like Iran. These are deforestation and desertification. Overgrazing, fire, and deforestation thin out or destroy vegetation, leaving exposed soil prone to wind, and water erosion or flooding. Once, the nutrient-rich topsoil blows or washes away, plants may not be able to revive.
Overgrazing causes soil compaction, destruction, and elimination of vegetation cover and changes the soil texture. So, rain no longer penetrates the soil, and the plants will lose the water they need to grow. The livestock population is around three times higher today than the capacity of the rangelands in Iran. The consequence of such conditions results in devastating floods, loss of lives, economic damages, and destruction of people’s livelihood.
The loss of productive land for a season or even a few years is one thing, but to lose it forever is clearly far more serious. In Iran, some environmental destructions have become irreversible.
Desertification is defined as “land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from climate change and human activities”. Land degradation is emerging as one of the most globally catastrophic issues in the context of contemporary climate change and non-controlled anthropogenic activities. Several natural hazards take place in the arid and semi-arid regions: periodic droughts, floods, dust storms, and sand storms that are aggravated by human activities. Yet, there is no clear consensus among scientists regarding how to combat desertification and land degradation, and the main factors driving these phenomena continue to be debated.
Desertification is also considered as the reduction or total loss of land productivity imposed by a combination of soil erosion, degradation of soil properties, and long-term loss of natural vegetation. During the last century, approximately 70% of drylands have manifested signs of desertification, among different degraded land use categories, croplands had experienced the highest risk with approximately 70%.
Iran represents one of the clearest examples of a country deeply affected by land degradation processes such as soil erosion, reduction of soil productivity, and water quantity as well as its quality. However, the lack of data noted by several Iranian investigations means that comprehensive nationwide studies that consider recent climate and vegetation trends are scant.
Dryland regions of Iran are susceptible to degradation and desertification due to various natural and human activities. At the heart of these activities are plundering of Iran’s natural ecosystems, unusual numbers of IRGC’s dams construction, depleting aquifers, and diverting water resources for the lands owned by various religious foundations or affluent clerics, and other privileged individuals of authority. Numerous examples illustrate the effects of long-term and over time vegetation loss, including an increase in flash floods associated with loss of fertile topsoil.
Land degradation poses a serious threat to the sustainable development of growing economies and will certainly undermine their political stability. All such crises are associated with continuous neglect and mismanagement of the various governments under the rule of clerics.
The driving forces in the human environment such as population growth and the resulting increased demand for food had created environmental stress, which is caused by overgrazing, misuse of agricultural land, improper irrigation techniques, over-pumping of groundwater, in excess of capacity for recharge, the irregular transformation of rangelands to rain-fed farming, continuous use of machinery, soil compaction, overexploitation of firewood, and hazardous pulling up of plants with medical interest. All these activities cause a reduction of the content of organic matter and of soil biodiversity. They cause the destruction of the soil structure, reduce soil fertility and ultimately increase soil erosion.
Iran is not only becoming more vulnerable to desertification but also according to the Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization, 100 million hectares of the country’s land area is threatened by desertification. This organization’s deputy has explained that currently, 32.5 million hectares of land in the country are have turned into deserts.
More than 20 million hectares of land in 22 provinces, namely Sistan-Baluchestan, Semnan, Kerman, Isfahan, Markazi, Khuzestan, Khorasan Razavi, South, and North Khorasan are regretfully prone to wind erosion.
The area of deserts in Iran is about 340,000 Km2 (less than one-fifth of its total area), of which 100,000 Km2 is being used for cultivation, 120,000 Km2 is subjected to moving sands about 40% of which is active sand dunes. Most features and processes usual in world-famous deserts are also observed in Iran: low precipitation, high evaporation, poor or lack of vegetation, saline and alkaline soils, low population, and small and sparse oases.
One of the greatest environmental concerns in Iran as in other arid and semiarid countries is the transformation of once productive rangelands or marginally productive forested areas to farmlands. After a few years of use, the land becomes barren and dry. This process is described as desertification, which occurs as a sequence of events.
Salinization is an important stress factor causing soil degradation and is the result of the accumulation of salts in the soil. Most salt-affected soils develop through natural processes and a great number of them have existed for a long time. Human activities, which interfere with natural processes, create the extension of salt-affected soils.
The salinity of soil and water resources is a serious threat and one of the most important environmental issues in many parts of Iran; slightly and moderately salt-affected soils are mostly found in northern Iran, whereas soils with high salinity levels are prevalent in the central and south Iran.
Altogether, two groups of deserts have been known in Iran. Coastal deserts stretch like a ribbon with variable width, from extreme southeast to extreme southwest Iran, at the Northern regions of the Oman Sea and the Persian Gulf. One important feature of these deserts is relatively high humidity, distinguishing them from other deserts. However, some parts of this area contain extremely fertile farmlands.
Internal deserts rest in the central, eastern, and southeastern plateau of the country as depressions. That is because of the surrounding high mountains, which block humidity entry and cause the aridity of these deserts. Wind as a dominant feature in the area causes deflated features such as Reg (desert pavement), Kalut (Yardang), Hoodoo, and wind deposited features such as different kinds of sand dunes and Loess, most of which exhibit beautiful landscapes suitable for ecotourism and scientific tours. Salt deserts, Kavir or Playas, in the lowest parts of internal depressions are the most current features in Iran’s deserts. The most extensive and specific salt deserts are pathways of floods, which consist of fine-grained sediments in the lowest parts of the depressions.
On the above-mentioned areas, there are vulnerable regions to desertification due to extensive use of drylands and increasing population pressure on land and water resources. Overgrazing of Iran’s rangelands is a particular problem. The issue of desertification must be taken seriously and combated using the most available scientific techniques, such as revegetation and windbreaks with domestic plants. Plans to combat moving sands must happen with sufficient technical planning prior to any action.
According to research carried out by Iran’s climatological institute, which underlines the role of human activities as well as a natural phenomenon on accelerating desertification over the past five decades, on average precipitations decreased by 11 millimeters in the country in each decade, evaporation rates soared by 54 millimeters per decade and temperature rose by 0.4 degrees every 10 years.
In Iran, the rate of desertification is “high”. Over 20% of the country’s land is exposed to desertification. Desertification has threatened 18 provinces and 97 cities of the country,
The lack of action by various governments within the past five decades, choosing wrong policies, and especially the influence of the IRGC in every aspect of Iran’s affairs are the main contributors to desertification in Iran.
* Khalil Khani is an Environmental Specialist and a Human Rights activist. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology, Botany, and Environmental Studies from Germany and has taught at the University of Tehran and the Hesse State University in Germany. He is also a Doctor of Medical Psychology from the United States.
This article was first published by irannewswire
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