I.R.IRAN Urmia Lake Challenges, Actions, and the way forward Table of Contents 1. Executive summary .........................................................................................................3 2. Introduction ....................................................................................................................5 3. Characteristics of Urmia Lake ..........................................................................................7 3.1. Physical Characteristics ...................................................................................................7 3.2. Current situation of Urmia Lake (Trend of changes in level and environment) ...............8 4. Primary assessments on causes of dried phenomena in some parts of Urmia Lake ........8 5. Assessment of the climatic / drought situation in Urmia Lake Basin...............................9 5.1. Temperature....................................................................................................................9 5.2. Seasonal temperature ...................................................................................................11 5.3. Precipitation ..................................................................................................................11 5.4. Drought within the Urmia Lake Basin ............................................................................12 6. Impacts of Drought on Water Resources of Urmia Lake ................................................15 6.1. Trend analysis .........................................................................................................15 6.2. River inflows into Urmia Lake.................................................................................15 7. Impacts of drought on biodiversity and livelihoods at Urmia Lake ...............................18 8. Policy, Planning and actions to mitigate climate change and human induced impacts .19 9. The main results of planning and the activities carried out...........................................21 10. The way forward ...........................................................................................................26 2 | Page 1. Executive summary Ø In past, wetland management in Iran could be characterised as top-down, sectoral and non-participatory. But now Department of Environment has met with considerable success in establishing participatory (bottom-up), integrated and ecosystem-based approaches to the management of wetlands in a basin context, and is now supporting mechanisms to roll out this approach at national level. Ø However, drought has persisted over parts of Iran. At Urmia Lake Basin (ULB) there is evidence of mid-term declines in precipitation and increases in temperature, as well as more frequent occurrences of drought. The situation in LU has been exacerbated by unsustainable use of water resources. These combined impacts have led to considerable shrinkage of wetlands all over the country, and in some parts of the country major wetlands are entirely dry, with serious impacts on biodiversity and livelihoods. Ø Now the lake is drying up at an alarming rate. The essential problem is that a range of users regularly extract water from the basin that feeds the lake. That outflow has vastly exceeded the inflow in recent years. Add to this a recent drought, and, as a result, the water levels keep declining. Ø Considering the drastic environmental situation of the Urmia Lake, and in line with paragraph A of Arcle 67 of 4th Iran naonal development plan and Arcle 191 of the 5th, Department of Environment has developed “Integrated Management Plan For Lake Urmia Basin” based on ecosystem approach, through a joint “UNDP/GEF/DoE Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project”, and in correspondence with National and provincial LU basin related organizations (West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Kurdistan). Ø Following endorsement of LUB management plan by cabinet on April 2010, and considering the drasc situaon of this lake, a commiee called “Naonal Implementation committee for management of LU basin” was established. This committee has Vice president as chairman and head of department of environment as secretary, and ministers of Energy, Agricultural Jihad, Interior, Housing and urbanization and governors of 3 basin provinces are members of it. Also according to the necessity of applying an integrated management approach and based on the management plan, the Regional Council of Management of Urmia Lake Basin was established with governors and high-level authories of 3 basin provinces. This council leads and arranges implementation of the management plan at basin level. Ø Urmia Lake environmental water right calculation and approval, Water shares calculation and approval that should be provided by the provinces located in the basin, Prohibition of any new water allocation in West and East Azerbayjan provinces, approval of 24 priority Projects according with implementation of management plan and securing environmental water rights of Urmia Lake, developing Drought Risk Management plan 3 | Page for Urmia Lake Basin are the main results of planning and the activities carried out by national committee. The new 19 priority acons were also approved within the LUB management plan framework in mid 2013 aer introducon of the new cabinet as urgent actions. Ø Department of Environment (DoE) has recorded the risk of drought as serious and critical for the last several years, and various mitigation activities are being undertaken. However, the drought conditions along with water extraction have continued such that the risk has become reality. At Urmia Lake water level has fallen more than 3 meters from its minimum ecological level and salinity has become so high as to inhibit ecological functioning. Urmia Lake’s satellite wetlands have been less affected as a result of restoration measures. However, the severe long-term decline in precipitation at Urmia Lake over more than 50 years raises considerable concerns for the future, and will require further adaptive measures. Ø This report concludes that drought at LUB has become more severe over recent decades both in intensity and duration, but that its impacts have been worsened by rapid intensification of water use. The DoE is working actively with the other sectors of government to promote more sustainable water use. At Urmia Lake a national committee which consists of 3 vice president, 4 ministers and 3 provincial governors, has been established and comprehensive agreement has been concluded between the three concerned provinces for their water share that must be delivered to the lake, and a moratorium has been placed of further water resources developments. Ø Mitigation and adaptive measures to combat the current situation in Urmia Lake have already been undertaken by Cabinet at national level and the Provincial agencies (most notably DOE, the water authorities and agriculture organizations), NGOs and local communities but the process should be seriously fastened and strengthened. Ø In this situation and in order to rescue of Lake Urmia, a lot of activities have been done by CIWP, DOE, and other organizations and even NGOs. But, we need some more, like technical and financial helps. Now, we have an “Integrated Management Plan for Lake Urmia Basin” that it should be implemented. It seems some international organization such as World Bank can assist us to restore of Lake Urmia. 4 | Page 2. Introduction Lake Uromiyeh (LU) is a vast hypersaline lake in NW Iran shared between the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan (Map 1). The Lake is a Naonal Park (NP), one of the largest Iranian Ramsar Sites (RS), UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (BR), and is the largest inland lake in Iran. The Lake is surrounded by a number of important fresh-brackish water satellite wetlands, several of which are also of global significance for their biodiversity. Also the Lake includes several islands that provide important habitats for birds and mammals. 2.1 Location and geography Lake Uromiyeh is formed in a natural depression at the lowest point within the closed LU basin, where water comes in through several rivers but leaves only by evaporation. Its geographic coordinaon is defined as 37ᵒ 06’ 15’’ and 38ᵒ 15’ 15’’ North and 45ᵒ 00’ 13’’ and 45ᵒ 55’ 20’’ East. It covers an average area of ca. 5,000 km2 with a maximum extent of 130 km x 48 km. The vast area of LU basin, 51,876 km2, covers areas in the three provinces of East Azarbaijan (39%), West Azerbaijan (51%) and the Southern Province of Kurdistan (10%). Map 1 General Location Lake Uromiyeh and Satellite wetlands Source, Yekom 2002 5 | Page The LU basin is generally mountainous, containing two of the famous Iranian volcanic peaks (Sahand, 3,707 m. and Sabalan, 4,810 m.), and with several vast producve plains in the valleys and around the Lake. The Lake’s water level varies between 1270-1280 meters above mean sea level (amsl). The Urmia Lake and its satellite wetlands have been selected as a demonstration site for the UNDP/GEF/DOE Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project (CIWP). This project aims to demonstrate reduction of the major threats to the internationally important biodiversity of this wetland protected area through promoting ecosystem-based management, coordinated through an integrated management plan. Despite its importance for biodiversity and people’s livelihoods, LUB is vulnerable to climatic impacts such as drought, as well as other anthropogenic factors such as over-extraction of water for agriculture, building of dams on