Part of the Vegetation Cover of Hamoun Wetland Burned

The governor of Nimruz County in Sistan and Baluchestan Province reported that "10 to 20 hectares" of forest and vegetation cover in the Hamoun Wetland burned in a fire on Tuesday. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Hassan Dahmardeh stated on Wednesday, August 28, that the "negligence" of local herders was the "main cause" of this fire. Mr. Dahmardeh mentioned that herders light fires in the wetland "for a specific purpose" and when they cannot control the fire, they flee the scene. ISNA reported, based on the accounts of "witnesses," that due to the lack of firefighting equipment, this fire lasted for "hours" and was eventually extinguished with the help of local residents. Meanwhile, the governor of Nimruz County said that if the wind had been blowing at the same time as the fire, it was uncertain what would have happened to the vegetation cover of Hamoun. Mr. Dahmardeh called for the establishment of firefighting facilities next to the Hamoun Wetland and emphasized that if the shrubbery of this wetland is destroyed, the centers of dust crisis will increase. In recent months, there have been several reports of dust storms in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, with the latest instance of dust and shifting sands from Sunday to Tuesday morning, August 20, sending more than 700 people to hospitals in the cities of Zabol, Hirmand, Hamoun, Zahak, and Nimruz. Meanwhile, the Iran newspaper previously reported that "the dryness of the Hamoun Wetland and the shifting sands in the area have become a source of dust production and guidance in Western Asia, which, according to experts, extends its impact to the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea, and Pakistan." Saeed Mahmoudi, the director of the environment department of Sistan and Baluchestan, had previously stated that unprecedented floods in August this year entered the Hamoun Wetland and managed to control the sources of dust production. However, the governor of Nimruz County said: "There was no flood; there were two small water streams that were likely directed from the other side of the border (Afghanistan) to Iran due to dredging of the canals... and they lasted no more than three or four days." According to this report, the Hamoun Wetland has been completely dry since 1999, and no water has entered this wetland until 2005. According to ISNA, only in some years when Afghanistan cannot control the floods caused by rainfall, these floods are directed through the Hirmand River towards the Hamoun Wetland. The Hamoun Wetland is located in Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran, and the water of the Hirmand River flows into this lake from Helmand Province of Afghanistan. The Hirmand water rights agreement was signed between Iran and Afghanistan in 1972. However, Iranian officials say that since the late 1990s and the increase in drought in Sistan and Baluchestan, the amount of water entering the Hirmand River into the Hamoun Lake has decreased. Meanwhile, Masoumeh Ebtekar, head of the Environmental Organization, had previously announced the formation of a joint working group with Afghanistan to save the Hamoun Wetland. The governor of Nimruz County also mentioned in his remarks on Wednesday that two to three other fires have occurred this year in the pastures and forests of the Hamoun Wetland. According to ISNA, three fires occurred in the Hamoun Wetland last year, and in the last one in Bahman last year, at least 20 hectares of the wetland's fields were "destroyed."