This Issue: Iran's Environmental Challenges
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Volume 12 - Number 3 April – May 2016 £4 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: IIRAN’SRAN’S EENVIRONMENTALNVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGESCHALLENGES ● MMENA,ENA, cclimatelimate cchangehange andand COP21COP21 ● EEnvironmentalnvironmental sustainabilitysustainability inin IranIran ● CComplexitiesomplexities iinn aaddressingddressing waterwater securitysecurity inin IranIran ● TTehranehran aandnd itsits mountainsmountains ● AAirir ppollutionollution andand publicpublic hhealthealth iinn TehranTehran ● LLearningearning toto valuevalue greenishgreenish spacesspaces ● TTourismourism aandnd thethe environmentenvironment ● EEnvironmentalnvironmental policymakingpolicymaking inin TurkeyTurkey ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LondonLondon Volume 12 - Number 3 April – May 2016 £4 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: IIRAN’SRAN’S EENVIRONMENTALNVIRONMENTAL CCHALLENGESHALLENGES ● MMENA,ENA, cclimatelimate cchangehange andand COP21COP21 ● EEnvironmentalnvironmental sustainabilitysustainability iinn IIranran ● CComplexitiesomplexities iinn aaddressingddressing wwaterater securitysecurity inin IIranran ● TTehranehran aandnd iitsts mmountainsountains ● AAirir ppollutionollution aandnd ppublicublic hhealthealth iinn TTehranehran ● LLearningearning toto vvaluealue ggreenishreenish sspacespaces ● TTourismourism aandnd tthehe eenvironmentnvironment ● EEnvironmentalnvironmental policymakingpolicymaking iinn TTurkeyurkey ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LLondonondon Parinaz Eleish, Barren Land. Courtesy of Vida Zaim and Leila Varasteh © Parinaz About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) Eleish Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle Volume 12 - Number 3 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. April – May 2016 With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Editorial Board membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Professor Nadje Al-Ali has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle SOAS East. 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Contents LMEI Board of Trustees 4 17 Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) EDITORIAL Iran post-sanctions: tourism Director, SOAS and the environment Professor Richard Black, SOAS Dr John Curtis 5 Minoo H. Esfehani Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT Dr Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS MENA, climate change and 19 Mr Alan Jenkins COP21 Environmental policymaking in Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS Hamid M. Pouran Turkey: a triumph of conviction Dr Dina Matar, SOAS over evidence Dr Hanan Morsy European Bank for Reconstruction 7 Ece Ozdemiroglu and Development Dr Barbara Zollner IRAN’S ENVIRONMENTAL Birkbeck College CHALLENGES 21 Environmental sustainability in REVIEWS LMEI Advisory Council Iran: the bumpy road ahead BOOKS Janet Blake Damascus Diaries: Life Under Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) the Assads Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO 9 Diana Darke Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Complexities in addressing Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Arab International Women’s Forum water security in Iran 22 Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Ali Nazemi BOOKS IN BRIEF President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS 11 24 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Tehran and its mountains: a EVENTS IN LONDON Mr Farad Azima deteriorating interface NetScientifi c Plc Dr Noel Brehony Ali Madanipour MENAS Associates Ltd. Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society 13 HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Air pollution and public health Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Iran Mr Paul Smith Chairman, Eversheds International Hamid M. Pouran Founding Patron and Donor of the LMEI 15 Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber Learning to value greenish MBI Al Jaber Foundation spaces James Hitchmough April – May 2016 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Armin Amirian DDearear RReadereader Armin Amirian, Coalition, 2015. Digital C Print, 70 x 100 cm. Edition of 3. Courtesy of Janet Rady Fine Art Hamid M. Pouran, IHF Visiting Fellow in Iran’s Environmental Sustainability n March and April 2015 we published aspects of Iran’s environmental policies, she this discussion. Minoo H. Esfehani informs the fi rst issue of Th e Middle East in also notes the myriad of challenges that still us how an expected surge in tourism to ILondon dedicated to the environment. need to be addressed. and within Iran may negatively impact the Th e importance of environmental Iran’s water shortage is arguably as old as environment. Iran is not prepared and does sustainability in the MENA region and its history. Ali Nazemi discusses the roots not have the proper infrastructure in place the wide spectrum of challenges faced of this complex problem and notes the – in particular with respect to its natural was refl ected in that issue, which covered uncertainty in existing scientifi c knowledge landscapes – to successfully manage the subjects from the Nile Basin hydrosolidarity as well as the unsustainable culture of socio- environmental consequences of a predicted to depleted uranium pollution in Iraq. economic development. ‘tsunami of tourists’. In this issue we focus on Iran on the eve Two articles focus on Tehran. In the Iran is not the only country in the of its opening up aft er last year’s nuclear fi rst, Ali Madanipour explains how the Middle East that practises poor standards agreement with the P5+1 countries to draw city’s rapid urbanisation has changed and neglects existing legal frameworks to attention to its neglected environmental its relationship with its immediate prevent environmental damage. As Ece challenges. environment. Th e depletion of aquifers Ozdemiroglu writes, while Turkey does To talk about environmental problems and air pollution are among the major not lack laws and regulations, existing laws in Iran – or any other country, for that challenges that Tehran faces. My second and regulations are commonly bypassed matter – we must fi rst discuss the 2015 article expands on this theme looking at air or ignored. To improve environmental COP21 Paris Climate Change agreement. In pollution. I explain the Air Quality Index policymaking in Turkey, assessments of the Insight I describe what the 21st Conference (AQI) and talk about some of the causes long-term environmental impacts of major of Parties (COP) in Paris has achieved and and consequences of air pollution that construction projects and activities such as how MENA countries have committed