Lake Urmia: Signs of recovery

25 November 2017

Lake Urmia, located in a mountainous region between the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran is one of the country’s most important ecosystems. Recent indications are that the lake is recovering. The focus of this brief is on the extent of this recovery and measures that are being put in place to ensure this is sustained.
Lake Urmia supports agriculture, energy, industry, food, water and housing needs of the people that live around the lake and within the wider catchment basin. In 2011, about 6 million people lived within the basin. The population and their needs are growing and decline of the lake will have negative ramifications throughout the region in areas such as access to water, food security, public health, biodiversity and ecosystem health and possibly the local climate.