Environmental issue in Iran Especially in urban areas, vehicle emissions, refinery operations, and industrial effluents contribute to poor air quality. Most cars use leaded gas and lack emissions control equipment. Tehran is rated as one of the world’s most polluted cities. However, buses and cars running on natural gas are planned to replace the existing public transportation fleet in the future. Also, energy prices are kept artificially low in Iran through heavy state subsidies, resulting in highly inefficient and polluting consumption patterns. The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a standardized index of the air quality in a given location, given in parts per billion. ... Tehran (IPA: ; Persian: تهران Tehrān), population (as of 2005) 7,314,000 (metropolitan: 12,151,000), and a land area of 658 square kilometers (254 sq mi), is the capital city of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. ... The Iranian constitution prohibits the granting of petroleum rights on a concessionary basis or direct equity stake. ...

A rising incidence of respiratory illnesses prompted the city governments of Tehran and Arak, southwest of the capital, to institute air pollution control programs. These programs aim to reduce gradually the amount of harmful chemicals released into the atmosphere. Pollution is the release of environmental contaminants. ...

Much of Iran’s territory suffers from overgrazing, desertification and/or deforestation. Industrial and urban wastewater runoff has contaminated rivers and coastal waters and threatened drinking water supplies. Wetlands and bodies of fresh water increasingly are being destroyed as industry and agriculture expand, and oil and chemical spills have harmed aquatic life in the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. Iran contends that the international rush to develop oil and gas reserves in the Caspian Sea presents that region with a new set of environmental threats. Although a Department of Environment has existed since 1971, Iran has not yet developed a policy of sustainable development because short term economic goals have taken precedence. In ecology and agriculture, overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to grazing for too long, or without sufficient recovery periods. ... Ship stranded by the retreat of the Aral Sea Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations, but primarily human activities. ... Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land use such as arable land, pasture, urban use, logged area or wasteland. ... Run-off or runoff may refer to one of the following. ... Map of the Persian Gulf. ... The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on Earth by both area and volume,[1] with a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 mi²) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 mi³).[2] It is a landlocked endorheic body of water and lies between... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ...

The World Bank estimates losses inflicted on Iran’s economy as a result of deaths caused by air pollution at $640 million, which is equal to 5.1 trillion rials or 0.57 percent of GDP. Diseases resulting from air pollution are inflicting losses estimated at $260 million per year or 2.1 trillion rials or 0.23 percent of the GDP on Iran’s economy. A report by the United Nations Environment Programme ranked Iran at 117th place among 133 countries in terms of environmental indexes. ^[1] Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means...

Major Environmental Agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation

Natural hazards: periodic droughts, floods; dust storms, sandstorms; earthquakes along western border and in the northeast.

See also

• Wildlife of Iran
• Tehran#pollution
• Geography of Iran#Environmental concerns
• Health care in Iran#Water and sanitation
• Ministry of Petroleum of Iran#Oil subsidies
• Economy of Iran

Wildlife of Iran includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats. ... Tehran (IPA: ; Persian: تهران Tehrān), population (as of 2005) 7,314,000 (metropolitan: 12,151,000), and a land area of 658 square kilometers (254 sq mi), is the capital city of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. ... Map of biotopes of Iran  Forest steppe  Forests and woodlands  Semi-desert  Desert lowlands  Steppe  Salted alluvial marshes Iran is situated in Southwest Asia, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea, between Iraq and Pakistan. ... According to the Iranian Constitution, the government is required to provide every citizen of the country with access to social security that covers retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, accidents, calamities, health and medical treatment and care services. ... The Iranian constitution prohibits the granting of petroleum rights on a concessionary basis or direct equity stake. ... The Iranian economy has been improving steadily over the past two decades but a continuing strong labour force growth unmatched by commensurate real economic growth is driving up unemployment to a level considerably higher than the official estimate of 11%. According to experts, annual economic growth above five per cent...

External Links

• Brief Sector Study

This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress ( USA), freely available for use by researchers. ... The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789 by a constitutional convention, sets down the basic framework of American government in its seven articles. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...