Iran’s Gulf of Gorgan, in the northeastern province of Golestan, is facing severe drought due to the drying up of the Caspian Sea at Gaz Port region, gathering of running wastewater on the port’s beach, and blockage of the canal between Ashuradeh Island and Miankaleh Peninsula.
According to naturalhistorymag.com, threatened by pollution and climate change, the future of the Earth’s largest inland body of water, the Caspian Sea, is in the hands of five bordering nations – Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Iran has been battling drought for years because of declining rainfall, rising temperatures, inefficient farming practices, excessive consumption in metropolises, and poor management of resources.
Addressing his first press conference on the environment in Tehran on Monday, the head of the Department of the Environment (DOE), Isa Kalantari, emphasized that the water crisis in Iran is serious.
After his reelection in May to serve a second four-year term, President Hassan Rouhani appointed Kalantari as the head of the DOE to tackle environmental crises. He replaced Massoumeh Ebtekar.
Energy officials say Iran’s annual water deficit is about 5.7 billion cubic meters, which they hope to compensate by 2022, when the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2017-22) is expected to end.