Rangelands in Iran are about 84.7 million hectares of grazing land, which accounts for 52% of the country’s total land surface. They are vast expanses of grass and shrub-lands, which play a crucial role in Iran’s ecosystem and economy. These regions support livestock farming, provide habitat for wildlife, and contribute to water resource management.
However, rangeland degradation has become a pressing issue in Iran, posing significant environmental and socio-economic challenges. Here, it must be said that desertification as a land degradation process is mostly created by anthropogenic and natural driving forces. In recent years, soil erosion, climate change, drought spells, overexploitation as well as over-grazing have led to the degradation of many rangelands.
In this article, we will explore the causes, consequences of rangelands degradation, and potential solutions to the problem of rangeland degradation in Iran.
The causes of rangeland degradation in Iran:
Lack of appropriate governance in rangelands management, fragmentation in decision-making institutions, and influences above the country’s law. Some reasons for the problems are special interests and the ignorance of natural resource offices enacting laws and regulations in the land allocations, disrupting the national status of the forests and rangelands, disregard for the penalties of ecosystem deterioration, the unfair allocation of forest and rangelands for other land-uses, the permission to illegal logging, constructions in the forests and rangelands, allowing national lands free allocation for government debt relief, and the establishing conditions that facilitate the allocation of forest and rangelands for other uses.
Firewood collection and overgrazing: Firewood collection in rural areas and nomads, and livestock overgrazing of rangelands, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, are leading causes of rangeland degradation in Iran. Excessive grazing results in the removal of vegetation faster than it can naturally regenerate, leading to desertification, soil erosion, and reduced forage availability.
Direct consequences of firewood collection and overgrazing include a decrease in the water storage capacity of the country’s land due to the disappearance of vegetation coverage.
Overuse and mismanagement of water have caused desertification and led wetlands to dry up in Iran and elsewhere in the region. The dry soil is easily picked up by the wind. The resulting dust storms can paralyze daily life across society by disrupting water and power delivery and forcing government offices, businesses, and schools to close.
Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has constructed numerous large dams, even during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq and in the face of waves of sanctions. It became the world’s third-largest dam builder after China and Japan. But Iran has over-dammed its rivers and degraded the environment. Khatam-al-Anbia of IRGC and Mahab-Qods were in charge of building those many dams in unsuitable locations. As a result, many people were displaced, and valuable wetlands and their ecosystems were seriously damaged.
The situation became so critical that even top government officials admitted the misuse of water resources. “We made these mistakes in the 1980s,” Issa Kalantari, the head of Iran’s Environment Department and a former Minister of Agriculture, admitted in 2018. “Then we came to realize that in places where we’d built dams, we shouldn’t have built any, and in places where we should have built dams, we didn’t build any.”
Land Use Changes: Rapid urbanization and agricultural expansion have encroached upon rangeland areas, leading to habitat fragmentation, soil disturbance, and land subsidence. The conversion of rangelands into cropland or industrial zones further exacerbates degradation in Iran.
Climate Change: Iran is experiencing the impacts of natural and anthropogenic climate change, including prolonged droughts, frequent flash floods, and extreme weather events. Government officials and authorities love the term “climate change” because they can cover up their inaction and Iran’s ecosystem mismanagement. Iran’s government’s inability to properly manage watersheds, rangelands, forestlands, and flood control has resulted in a reduction of vegetation cover and a decrease in water resource availability, making rangelands more susceptible to degradation.
Distribution of unpalatable plants due to overgrazing: unpalatable plant species, such as Euphorbia boissieriana, Peganum harmala, Salvia spp., and Prosopis spp., have spread rapidly in Iranian rangelands, displacing forage plants and altering ecosystem dynamics. These invaders often outcompete other range plants.
Consequences of Rangelands Degradation
Loss of Biodiversity: Rangeland degradation leads to the loss of plant and animal species that rely on these ecosystems for habitat and sustenance. This can have cascading effects on the entire ecosystem, disrupting ecological balance. Unsustainable economic developments have also helped these crises to become even worse. Soil loss is a major threat to biodiversity brought about by erosion, salinization, sedimentation, desertification, deforestation, overgrazing, and unscientific land conversion.
Soil Erosion: Degraded rangelands are highly susceptible to soil erosion, which not only depletes valuable topsoil but also leads to sedimentation in water bodies, reducing water quality and availability. Soil overexploitation by people affiliated with the ruling regime and industries, changes in climate patterns, improper and unnecessary infrastructure development, land use changes, and unlawful exploitation of resources are among the reasons behind the ongoing disaster.
Water Scarcity: Rangelands serve as natural water catchments, capturing and storing rainfall. Rangelands in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran are under pressure from frequent degradations and extreme climate conditions, which have affected water conservation and delivery of ecosystem services. When degraded, they lose this water-holding capacity, contributing to increased water scarcity in both rural and urban areas. This problem, if left unchecked, threatens not only Iran but also the stability of the region and the world. Iran’s environmental status these days includes air pollution, pesticide pollution, soil depletion and erosion, water scarcity and pollution, natural resource loss, lack of appropriate waste management, lead poisoning, and desertification.
Economic Impact: Iran’s livestock industry heavily depends on rangelands for forage. Rangelands comprise 52% of Iran’s total land area and provide about 67% of the feed requirements for domesticated livestock. Although 89.7% of Iran’s rangelands support medium- and poor-quality forages,1 they are of particular importance to the livelihood of nearly 16% of rural families. Nevertheless, rangeland-based animal husbandry is one of the sectors that has been exposed the most to climate variability and change. Degraded rangelands result in reduced livestock productivity, leading to economic losses for rural communities.
Climate Change Feedback: Rangelands play a role in sequestering carbon dioxide. Many environmental impacts are caused by increased carbon dioxide, which has a mechanism that is not entirely clear, but it is the main reason for the increasing earth’s temperature. Climate change has turned into a public issue resulting from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions with an increase in global average temperature evident worldwide. Warming could induce some changes in precipitation via warmer air and greater evaporation potential, associated with the drying of terrestrial ecosystems. When rangelands are degraded, they release stored carbon back into the atmosphere, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbating climate change.
Solutions to Rangeland Degradation:
Creating a collaborating environment among all people: not only the stakeholders who directly benefit from rangelands but also everyone can offer opinions and get involved in natural resources management. Successful rangeland management seeks to engage diverse attitudes from different influencers that include not only the policymakers, state officials, and scientists but also the attitudes of farmers, herders, and pastoralists.
Sustainable Grazing Practices: It is widely recognized that the concept of sustainability has various economic, environmental, and social dimensions to be considered. At the same time, the science of rangeland management should change in order to meet the challenges of the future. Promoting sustainable livestock grazing practices, such as rotational grazing and temporary rest periods for rangelands, while considering rangelands’ grazing capacity, can help reduce overgrazing and allow vegetation to recover.
Reforestation and Erosion Control: Implementing holistic watershed management projects to improve watershed conditions along with economic improvements. The watershed, a dynamic and integrated social, economic, and biological system, plays an important role in the growth and development of the economy. A watershed is a logical unit for land-use planning and sustainable management of natural resources and the environment. Watersheds as a basis to support natural life and human activities have been heavily damaged over the past few centuries. One of the major causes of this is the inappropriate land-use allocation. Rangeland’s reclamation and afforestation projects can help stabilize soil and reduce erosion. Native plant species should be prioritized.
Land Use Planning: Strict land use regulations and zoning policies can help protect rangelands from urban sprawl and conversion to other land uses. One of the most noticeable instances of human change on Earth is the transformation of natural ecosystems into anthropogenic landscapes. Land use change models are tools that can support the analysis of the causes and consequences of land use dynamics.
Nonplatable Species Management in Rangelands: Efforts to control and manage nonplatable species are crucial to restoring native vegetation and ecosystem health of rangelands in Iran. Overgrazing and its subsequent effects on soil characteristics, loss of vegetation cover, and trampling were found as the major causes of deterioration. Sustainable and integrated management practices such as the implementation of appropriate grazing systems were suggested to enhance soil quality and reduce accelerated erosion.
Climate Change Mitigation: The consequences of climate change are highly impeding the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals anywhere. While climate change scales up, its health-related risks increase, which in turn leads to new challenges for public health in Iran. Climate change might influence the development of human beings via fossil fuel burning, deforestation, desertification, and other activities that increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Taking steps to mitigate climate change through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can indirectly benefit rangelands by reducing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
Community Involvement: Engaging local communities in rangeland management and providing incentives for sustainable practices can help ensure the long-term health of these ecosystems. But the only thing that currently exists is the government’s iron-feast rule and communities are bystanders in Iran. Examples are the depletion of water resources and the destruction of rangeland caused by the unsustainable use of natural resources resulting in increased poverty and unemployment.
Conclusion
Rangeland degradation in Iran is a multifaceted problem with far-reaching consequences for not only its own natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the economy but also damaging the global environmental system. Addressing this issue requires a concerted effort from government agencies, conservation organizations, and local communities. Under clerical rule, the IRGC and religious foundations under the supervision of the Supreme Leader are the owners of the country’s wealth, including its water. Thus, the existing environmental catastrophes, degradation, and deterioration are the results of absolute corruption, plundering, and mismanagement or better said management of Iran’s natural resources for the profiteering of the most privileged ones. By implementing sustainable land management practices, protecting native vegetation, and addressing the drivers of degradation, Iran can work toward preserving its valuable rangeland ecosystems for future generations. Failure to act now could result in irreversible damage to these critical landscapes and the services they provide.
* Khalil Khani is an Environmental Specialist and a Human Rights activist. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology, Botany, and Environmental Studies from Germany and has taught at the University of Tehran and the Hesse State University in Germany. He is also a Doctor of Medical Psychology from the United States.
