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Mohammad Mohabi

The recent floods have once again revealed the vulnerability of Iranian cities to natural disasters, causing environmental crises. Various cities in the northern, southern, and western provinces were at serious risk after just one or two hours of heavy rainfall. Unlike disasters such as earthquakes, floods can be predicted. For example, the devastating flood in Agh Ghala two years ago was predicted in a scientific article titled “Two-Dimensional Simulation of Urban Flood Flows Using CCHE2D Model (Case Study: Agh Ghala City)” published in the scientific-research journal of Imam Khomeini University of Maritime Sciences. In this article, researchers had predicted the occurrence of a major flood in Agh Ghala and recommended the evacuation of the city.

Environmental manipulation by governments and governmental and non-governmental organizations in Iran has a long history; however, since the 1979 revolution, it has increased in an extreme manner. This manipulation has manifested itself through the destruction of vegetation, encroachment on river boundaries, and uncontrolled construction in these areas, leaving Iranian cities defenseless against floods. The flood at the Quran Gate in Shiraz was one of the tangible results of such manipulation. A few years ago, the canal next to this gate, which was built to redirect floods, was filled with debris and soil by the Shiraz municipality and turned into a boulevard. Therefore, when a half-hour of heavy rain caused a flood in that area, a disaster occurred and everyone was caught off guard.

Another problem is the lack of regular maintenance of rivers and canals, and failure to timely dredge the riverbeds. With an increase in the water flow of the rivers, the riverbeds become filled and water flows around them towards cities and villages, carrying a huge amount of mud and debris. This problem has become so severe that in cities such as Agh Ghala, Mamulan, Pol Dokhtar, Ahvaz, etc., water flowed for several days and it took several days to drain the water. After the water was drained, the remaining mud and debris caused a lot of energy to be expended by the people and rescuers.

In the past decade, a strange trend has emerged in security, judicial, military, and law enforcement institutions regarding the issue of the environment. Generally, in the Islamic Republic, the scope of securitizing various issues is expanding day by day. They have securitized the issue of the environment to such an extent that even in law schools, proposals related to “environmental law”, “international environmental law”, “civil liability for the environment”, and so on are mostly rejected. The writer has personally heard this from several members of the faculty of law at universities. Educational group managers advise professors and instructors not to recommend topics related to environmental legal issues when proposing research topics to students.

It seems that the level of destruction and excessive exploitation of the environment in Iran by institutions and government agencies in recent years has been so vast and widespread that the Islamic Republic has resorted to nothing but securing it to hide and prevent transparency and information dissemination. To the point that no one dares to engage in activities, research, and awareness in the field of the environment. Currently, several environmental activists are facing severe charges and are in the worst possible conditions in their legal cases, including being accused of espionage. A year ago, Kavous Seyed Emami, an environmental activist, suspiciously passed away in prison and his family’s pursuit of the main cause of his death has not yielded any results. The judiciary insists that he committed suicide.

Undoubtedly, if the leaders and institutions of the Islamic Republic did not consider the issue of the environment as a security concern in recent years, and if experts, activists, and enthusiasts in this field had the freedom to conduct research and express their findings, the damages and losses caused by recent floods would have decreased.