Tehran – Lake Urmia has decreased due to a decrease in sediment, reaching 1,140 square kilometers on April 4, compared to 1,350 square kilometers on the same day last year.
Lake Urmia in northwestern Azarbaijan began to deplete in the 2000s. The lake is the largest in West Asia and the sixth largest salt lake in the world, with a water surface area of 5,000-6,000 square kilometers.
The amount of spring precipitation has decreased by 49.6% so far compared to the amount recorded last year. The current level of urban lakes corresponds to 1270.28, a decrease compared to 1270.34 measured in April 2024.
He added that the lake volume has also decreased from 1.8 billion cubic meters on April 4, 2024 to 1.63 billion cubic meters measured this year.
According to the measuring institution, the precipitation from April 1st to 7th is estimated to be normal, and the trend is below normal. The rainfall is predicted to be normal and normal within the next two weeks.
Repair efforts
Through a joint project led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the Japanese government, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will participate in promoting sustainable agricultural practices and solutions for the conservation of urban lakes.
On December 1, 2024, the Japanese government and UNDP signed the exchange of notes to launch a project to develop a conservation system for Lake Urmia and other wetlands.
the communities around them. ” The project, which will be carried out between 2024 and 2028, will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and FAO.
Focusing on sustainable agriculture and climate-adapted livelihoods, the initiative aims to provide long-term benefits to the community while preserving wetland biodiversity as a key ecosystem.
Lake Urmia faces major challenges due to the overconsumption of water resources, which has been expanded by the effects of climate change, and has severely impacted its ecosystem.
Agricultural activities in the region are becoming increasingly vulnerable to water shortages, a situation exacerbated by the effects of climate change. Research shows that these climate change could further disrupt the agrifood system and the vulnerable environment of the lake in the future.
With support from the Japanese government, FAO has identified technical agricultural solutions to increase water efficiency in the agricultural sector in the Urmia Lake Basin.
Since 1995, Lake Urmia has been shrinking due to rapid upstream agriculture expansion and climate change. These forces are putting precious lakes at risk of depletion, putting local health, economy, environment, industry and agriculture at risk.
Despite the efforts of the Urmia Lake Repair Program National Committee and focusing on lake recovery since 2013, the continuation of the critical situation demonstrates that sustainability, macro and micro management solutions should be considered the key essence of action plans.
In 2016, in a coordinated effort to address the challenges facing the Urmia Lake Basin, FAO launched the “Integrated Program for Sustainable Water Resource Management in the Urmia Lake Basin.” This was funded by the Japanese government.
Key technical achievements of this initiative include implementing waters and projects in the Urmia Lake Basin and identifying water consumption hotspots within the Basin. In particular, water accounting revealed the positive contributions of irrigation and rain agriculture to the evapotranspiration intake of the lake, highlighting the importance of water-saving measures to the recovery of the lake.
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