UN Report on Lake Urmia; 600,000 Have Migrated; 5 Million Will Be Forced to Migration
AZOH: UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed has given information about Lake Urmia environmental disaster, in his October 2014 report.
The report informs that while according to official reports “93 percent of Lake Urmia has dried up” the government only has taken “positive steps to identify solutions” of the disaster.
The report highlights the effects of the disaster by the below sentences:
“On 20 April 2014, officials reported that 93 per cent of Lake Urmia had dried up, doubling standard salinity levels and resulting in an increase in cancer and respiratory diseases. Local officials have maintained that, if the necessary measures are not taken by October 2014, the southern part of the lake will disappear, which could force up to 5 million people to migrate from the area. Figure IX shows the decreasing surface area of the lake.
According to the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 600,000 people have migrated from areas surrounding the lake and wetlands and the people remaining in the area are living in conditions of increasing poverty. The number of sandstorms and dust storms has almost doubled from 120 to 220 days each year. The desiccation of the Hamoun wetlands has also led to an increase in tuberculosis in the city of Zabol, while the desiccation of Lake Urmia has had a major impact on the socioeconomic situation of inhabitants who depend on its water, in particular for agriculture.”