An official at the National Disaster Management Organization has urged Massoumeh Ebtekar, head of the Department of Environment, to use her influence in the government to draw attention to the plight of the Jazmourian Wetland in southeast Iran. “I appeal to the DOE chief to bring up the wetland’s revival efforts at the first session of the High Council of Disaster Management,” Behnam Saeedi said, hoping Ebtekar will be able to use her position as a vice president to help save the wetland. The wetland’s water right is estimated at 23 million cubic meters a year, which Saeedi says is nowhere near enough to restore the lagoon. Besides taking a toll on the livelihood of local communities that depend on the wetland, the drying up of Jazmourian has turned the wetland into one of the 26 sources of dust storms in Kerman Province. Nestled between the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Jazmourian Wetland is one of two major wetlands in southeast Iran, the other being the Hamouns. These wetlands are grappling with complete desiccation as a result of climate change, dam construction and depletion of groundwater resources.
