Efficient management of groundwater resources in the border regions is crucial to curb water shortages and stop (possibly reverse) rural-urban migration that has become a cause of concern among economic analysts and policymakers.
However, no budget has so far been allocated for water management, says the head of Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization.
"Techniques such as aquifer management and watershed management have proven to be effective in alleviating the water crisis across the country, especially in the border areas. But our organization has received no funds to develop the techniques," Abolqasem Hosseinpour was quoted as saying by ISNA.
There is no denying the fact that border areas play a key role in protecting national security. However, it is not clear why helping border dwellers to have a decent livelihood, which depends largely on groundwater resources, is of the least importance for those in charge, he rued.
"Combating poverty in such regions and providing border populations (farmers) with a secure livelihood is dependent on efficient aquifer and watershed management techniques, for which there are no funds!"
According to the official, Iran shares 16 water basins with neighbors some of which are the Hirmand River, Aras River, Harir Roud, Atrek and Sumbar, Karasu and Sarisu Rivers and Arvand River originating from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan Turkey and Iraq respectively.
Although trans-border rivers and shared water resources cover 25 million hectares, water management techniques cover less than 600,000 hectares, which is definitely not enough to end the worsening water shortages in drought-stricken (eastern) border regions, he added.
"Sustainable development in rural areas has always been on the agenda of successive governments, but they seem to be oblivious to the fact that such lofty goals will not and cannot be fulfilled unless groundwater resources are managed responsibly and efficiently."
Troubling Migration Pattern
As is the problem in many developing countries with poor rural planning, in Iran too migration to major urban areas has increased over the past decades and the trend is getting worse as access to water diminishes.
The National Population and Housing Census, conducted in 2017, found that 74% of the population of 80 million now lives in cities, up from 71.4% in 2011.
In short, barely 26% of the population now resides in rural areas – a clear warning to policymakers in Tehran that their rural development policy has been a dismal failure.
For more than a quarter century social scientists have warned governments in Tehran that their development policies (especially in underdeveloped border regions) are ineffective. A great danger lies ahead in terms of demographics and the infrastructure pressure on urban areas. But as is customary, their calls fall on deaf ears.
Experts rightly point the finger of blame at drought and water shortages as among the main contributing factors impelling village folks to move out to the metropolises in ever increasing numbers.
“Severe drought has exacerbated the urban migration trend. Farmers are moving to cities to find work turning many rural regions into ghost villages,” Fatemeh Paseban, assistant professor at the Agriculture Planning, Economic and Rural Development Research Institute, wrote in the Persian-language economic weekly Tejarat-e-Farda.
Data shows 12.5% of the population lives in three eastern provinces -- Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and Sistan-Baluchestan. “All three are grappling with severe drought for several years. Efficient water management and empowerment of farmers are primary measures that must be taken to prevent the people from moving out of the rural areas,” she said.
Earlier, Seyed Abolfazl Razavi, a deputy to the first vice-president for rural development and deprived areas, had said that “of the total 64,000 villages, 33,000 are now almost totally deserted and 25,000 are each inhabited by less than 20 households.”
Since 1990, the world has more than halved the number of extreme poor. However, there are still 736 million people living under $2 a day (World Bank 2015). Extreme poverty is mostly a rural phenomenon and those in this bracket depend mostly on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security.
The bottom line is that through sustainable growth, which is largely dependent on water, poverty can be reduced among the rural poor who often experience overlapping deprivations not only in education but also in access to basic infrastructure.
