Climate change in Iran

Climate change in Iran is leading to an increase in average annual temperatures and a decrease in annual precipitation. Iran is the largest greenhouse gas emitter not to have ratified the Paris Agreement. The country is experiencing a greater frequency of flooding and extended periods of drought due to climate change. Climate change also has implications for water scarcity, agriculture and human health in Iran.

Lake Urmia has shrunk due to reduced inflow in recent decades. This is attributable to climate change, and contributes to water scarcity in Iran.[1]

Greenhouse gas emissions
Iran is one of the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita.

Iran is the largest greenhouse gas emitter not to have ratified the Paris Agreement.[2] It is the world's sixth largest emitter, and relies heavily on its petroleum industry.[3] Iran was estimated to emit 700 megatonnes of CO2 in 2019, about 8 and a half tonnes per person,[4] which was 1.85% of the world total. From 2009 to 2019, Iran's CO2 emissions doubled from 12 million tons to 24 million tons.[5] Over 5 megatons of methane was emitted in 2020, which was over 7% of the world total.[6] From 2008 to 2018, Iran's methane emissions rose from 137 million tons to 150 million tons.[7]

Impacts

Climate change is expected to lead to a 2.6 °C increase in temperatures and 35% decrease in precipitation in Iran during the 21st century.[8] Climate change is also expected to lead to extended periods of drought and increased frequency of flooding.[9]

Much of Iran's territory suffers from overgrazing, desertification and deforestation. Industrial and urban wastewater runoff has contaminated rivers, coastal and underground waters.[10] Water supplies will be affected by climate change, as well as energy, agriculture and coastal zones.[11][12] Lake Urmia has shrunk in recent decades, in part due to climate change, which has contributed to water scarcity.[1] Climate change also poses implications for health in Iran.[13]

Present (left) and predicted future (right) Köppen climate classification maps of Iran

Mitigation and adaptation

Other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have begun responding to climate change in the region, but the government of Iran have not implemented mitigation policies to date.[3] At COP26, Iranian delegate Ali Salajegheh said the country would only ratify the Paris Agreement if sanctions against Iran were lifted.[14]

Iran national center of climate and Drought management [15] was established in the Meteorological Organization of the country in year 2009 and following these objectives:

  • Collecting Drought data and information
  • Monitoring forecast, forewarning and issuing Drought warning
  • Proper and effective reports to public users and executive Organization

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Climate change in Iran.

References
  1. Shadkam, Somayeh; Ludwig, Fulco; van Oel, Pieter; Kirmit, Çağla; Kabat, Pavel (2016-10-01). "Impacts of climate change and water resources development on the declining inflow into Iran's Urmia Lake". Journal of Great Lakes Research. 42 (5): 942–952. doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2016.07.033. ISSN 0380-1330.
  2. "Greenhouse gas emission scenarios in nine key non G20 countries: An assessment of progress toward 2030 climate targets" (PDF).
  3. Mahoozi, Sanam. "Iran's climate efforts derided as MENA nations take action". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  4. "Iran - CO2 emission 2019". countryeconomy.com. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  5. Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max (11 May 2020). "CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions". Our World in Data.
  6. "Methane Tracker Database – Analysis". IEA. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  7. "Methane emissions (kt of CO2 equivalent) - Iran, Islamic Rep. | Data". data.worldbank.org.
  8. Mansouri Daneshvar, Mohammad Reza; Ebrahimi, Majid; Nejadsoleymani, Hamid (2019-03-01). "An overview of climate change in Iran: facts and statistics". Environmental Systems Research. 8 (1): 7. doi:10.1186/s40068-019-0135-3. ISSN 2193-2697. S2CID 84834886.
  9. Vaghefi, Saeid Ashraf; Keykhai, Malihe; Jahanbakhshi, Farshid; Sheikholeslami, Jaleh; Ahmadi, Azadeh; Yang, Hong; Abbaspour, Karim C. (2019-02-06). "The future of extreme climate in Iran". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 1464. Bibcode:2019NatSR...9.1464V. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-38071-8. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6365571. PMID 30728418.
  10. "Environmental Problems Related to the Groundwater Contamination in Iran – Phoenix Project of Iran". Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  11. Amiri, M. J.; Eslamian, S. S. (2010). "Investigation of climate change in Iran". Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  12. Karimi, Vahid; Karami, Ezatollah; Keshavarz, Marzieh (2018-01-01). "Climate change and agriculture: Impacts and adaptive responses in Iran". Journal of Integrative Agriculture. 17 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1016/S2095-3119(17)61794-5. ISSN 2095-3119.
  13. Mousavi, Arefeh; Ardalan, Ali; Takian, Amirhossein; Ostadtaghizadeh, Abbas; Naddafi, Kazem; Bavani, Alireza Massah (2020-06-01). "Climate change and health in Iran: a narrative review". Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering. 18 (1): 367–378. doi:10.1007/s40201-020-00462-3. ISSN 2052-336X. PMC 7203306. PMID 32399247.
  14. "Climate change: Iran says lift sanctions and we'll ratify Paris agreement". BBC News. 2021-11-11. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  15. "national center of climate and drought crises management".
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