Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ISTANBUL183
2009-05-27 14:20:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

IRANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS ENCOURAGE US HELP TO

Tags:  ECON EAGR PREL PGOV PINS UNDP IR TU 
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VZCZCXRO3865
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHTRO
DE RUEHIT #0183/01 1471420
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 271420Z MAY 09
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8978
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 000183 

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR GAYLE; BERLIN FOR PAETZOLD; BAKU FOR MCCRENSKY;
ASHGABAT FOR TANGBORN; BAGHDAD FOR BUZBEE AND FLINCHBAUGH;
DUBAI FOR IRPO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2019
TAGS: ECON EAGR PREL PGOV PINS UNDP IR TU
SUBJECT: IRANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS ENCOURAGE US HELP TO
ADDRESS IRAN'S WATER PROBLEMS

REF: (A) ISTANBUL 133 (B) ANKARA 687 (C) ANKARA 752

Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Sandra Oudkirk; Reason 1.5 (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 000183

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR GAYLE; BERLIN FOR PAETZOLD; BAKU FOR MCCRENSKY;
ASHGABAT FOR TANGBORN; BAGHDAD FOR BUZBEE AND FLINCHBAUGH;
DUBAI FOR IRPO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2019
TAGS: ECON EAGR PREL PGOV PINS UNDP IR TU
SUBJECT: IRANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS ENCOURAGE US HELP TO
ADDRESS IRAN'S WATER PROBLEMS

REF: (A) ISTANBUL 133 (B) ANKARA 687 (C) ANKARA 752

Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Sandra Oudkirk; Reason 1.5 (d).


1. (C) Summary: Several Iranian environmental experts
recently decried to us the lack of attention and resources
the GOI devotes to water-related issues in Iran. They urged
the USG to reach out to Iran indirectly, through UNDP or
academic channels, to offer a "cooperative partnership"
(i.e., USG help) in several specific areas, including
irrigation technology, desalination, and managing
trans-boundary water resources. One expert pointed out that
Supreme Leader Khamenei's March 21 speech responding to
President Obama's outreach specifically highlighted the poor
state of Iran's water conservation and irrigation capacities,
a message reportedly reinforced by Iran earlier this month at
the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. These contacts
believe a USG offer of cooperation in those areas, made after
Iran's elections, would be met with a cautiously pragmatic
response from the GOI and with grateful enthusiasm from
Iran's scientific and environmental communities. End
Summary.


2. (C) In the past few weeks, ConGen Istanbul's NEA Iran
Watcher has solicited views from several Iranian
environmental and water experts on environmental developments
in Iran. Two experts who work for development-related NGOs
attended the March 16-22, 2009 World Water forum in Istanbul
(ref A) and have stayed in contact with us, while a the third
expert (the head of the Watershed and Rangeland Management
Department at Gorgan University in Golestan province, a
leading Iranian university for agricultural and environmental
studies, please strictly protect) was in Istanbul recently to
receive a visa for a two-year research sabbatical in the U.S.
starting in September. All shared similar cautionary views

on the poor state of the environment in Iran, bemoaning the
worsening trends of soil erosion and desertification,
flooding, and water wastage throughout the country. They
argued that the GOI was not doing enough to address these
problems, in part because Iran's fragmented bureaucracy has
led to inadequate enforcement of environmental laws, and in
part because to address the problems effectively Iran would
need to seek foreign help, which the regime is not currently
willing or prepared to directly request.

3. (C) These experts were most concerned about the following
environmental challenges:
-- Rising salinity and wetland degradation: One contact
characterized Iran's wetlands as being under serious threat.
Iran receives less than 250 millimeters of rainfall annually,
a third of the world average. 90% of Iran's area is arid or
semi-arid. Only 35% of Iran's land is arable, with wetlands
concentrated in six main areas, primarily the lowlands along
the Caspian Sea, the Sistan basin on the Afghan border,
central Fars province, and the Orumiyeh basin in northwest
Iran. This expert believes one consequences of Iran's water
shortage and misuse is the increasing level of salinity in
wetland areas. Many important indigenous plant species
cannot survive the higher salt content in the groundwater,
disrupting the ecological balance. He received a small GOI
grant to try to develop more salt-tolerant strains of such
plants species but says it was not enough funding. He
recently applied to UNDP's Iran office to request enough
funding to make the project viable. He argued that the GOI
is not doing enough to research or develop more advanced,
cost-effective desalination techniques.
-- Irrigation: One contact explained that irrigated
agriculture consumes over 90% of Iran's renewable water
resources. Because most of Iran's rivers are seasonal (i.e.,
flowing only when precipitation is heavy),up to 60% of the
water for irrigation is drawn from water tables and
underground reservoirs, usually at an ecologically
unsustainable rate. Iran's approach to irrigation is
inefficient, plagued by inattention to operations and
maintenance, heavy GOI subsidies on delivered water, unclear
lines of authority within the GOI, and a resulting GOI
unwillingness to set a goal of requiring much more efficient
irrigation methods nationally. He suggested that a more
concerted GOI campaign to encourage use of methods like
pressurized irrigation, drip irrigation, and qanat-based
(ancient/traditional underground canals) irrigation systems
would improve efficiency. Low irrigation efficiency, by
contrast, is leading to water logging and over-salinization
in the irrigated areas. Acknowledging that agriculture is a
key economic sector, he said the GOI only recently recognized
it must do more to increase the efficiency of irrigation
methods and reduce the share of groundwater consumed in
irrigation, but is still struggling to set realistic goals,
and to assign clear bureaucratic responsibility and

ISTANBUL 00000183 002 OF 003


sufficient resources to achieve those goals.
-- Trans-boundary water-sharing: An expert in Iran's
trans-boundary water resources (i.e., rivers that flow from
neighboring countries, such as the Helmand from Afghanistan
and the Aras from Turkey) told us that as Iran's water
shortage increases, resulting from increasingly frequent and
prolonged drought cycles, Iran will become more dependent on
trans-boundary water-sharing. Iran needs more effective
regional cooperation to manage these important water sources,
he argued. Tran-boundary water disagreements, especially in
this part of the world, can easily lead to serious conflict,
especially as regional water scarcity increases. Iranian and
Afghan forces exchanged gunfire over disputes related to the
Helmand river in the 1990s, and in 1999 the Taliban shut off
the Helmand's flow to Iran, completely drying up several
vital eastern Iranian lakes. But if managed well, it offers
an important subject for regional cooperation. He pointed to
the "doosti" (friendship) dam operated on the trans-boundary
river between Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan as a rare
example of an effective regional water partnership. He
encouraged the U.S. to help facilitate a more comprehensive
trans-boundary or regional water-sharing dialogue, to include
Turkey, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as the
USG (through USAID) already does in the Caucuses and Central
Asia. Such a dialogue could lead both to a more efficient
and equitable use of shared water resources, and to lower
tensions and raised confidence in the region.
GOI views: signaling a need for help?

4. (C) One expert pointed to Iranian Supreme Leader
Khamenei's late March Mashad speech as an indicator of GOI
recognition that it faces significant water conservation
problems, though Khamenei framed the challenge more as one of
simply "working harder and wasting less." A close reading
of those remarks, our contact said, reveals a sense of
urgency on the regime's part, and an clear listing of areas
where the regime needs help, including: rural development
("It is not right that a village suffers just because it is
in an isolated part of the country"); drought's impact on
wheat production ("wheat production decreased in the country
because of last year's drought, and now we must import
wheat"),water wastage ("Nearly 22% of water is wasted in our
homes. Water is produced with difficulty, requiring dams and
huge investments....The country's water pipelines are under
strain...We must preserve our dams, improve our water supply
lines, and train to economize on irrigation. Those who use
less water should receive state aid.") While that portion of
the speech was intended for a domestic audience, our contact
said it shows not only how seriously the regime has recently
begun to view its water problem, but it also shows several
tangible areas where a USG offer of engagement through
"partnership" assistance is most needed.

5. (C) The GOI's concerns were reinforced at the UN's
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) meetings in New
York, May 4-15, 2009. A "very capable and pragmatic" Iranian
diplomat, Javad Amin-Mansour, served as the vice-chair for
the annual session, according to our contact. Amin-Mansour
reportedly underscored in remarks to the CSD that Iran is
facing a potential environmental crisis brought on by
desertification, land degradation, deteriorating water
quality, and misuse of water leading to water scarcity.
Though he was representing the CSD, our contact told us that
Amin-Mansour lobbied actively behind the scenes at that
meeting for significantly more international assistance to
Iran, via the UN system, on these issues. An internet search
of remarks that Amin-Mansour made as Iran's representative to
the 2008 CSD meetings further underscores the growing sense
of GOI concern about these worsening environmental trends,
and the need to look for both international and local
solutions. In those May 2008 remarks, Amin-Mansour called on
the international community to better fund the UN's Global
Environmental Fund (GEF) to help poor countries deal with
these challenges. He urged that national governments
(including Iran) do more to invest in rural economies and
empower local communities by, inter alia, making them
"stakeholders" in better managing their local resources. He
also urged that national governments (including Iran) do more
to empower "grass-roots environmental organizations, civil
societies, and academia" to help find creative solutions to
these problems.
How to engage Iran on these issues: Carefully and indirectly

6. (C) All three contacts suggested that any offer of USG
help in these areas should wait until after the June 12
elections, and must be framed carefully. First, Given the
GOI's pride in its scientific achievements, including in
agriculture and the environment, the U.S. should offer
"partnership" not assistance, agreeing to work jointly as
equals on any agreed projects. Second, given the GOI's
suspicions about USG intentions and hidden agendas, the USG

ISTANBUL 00000183 003 OF 003


should not make the offer directly to the GOI. Instead, the
USG should consider making such partnership offers through
the UN system -- most usefully through UNDP, which has an
established field presence in Iran and is respected for its
humanitarian, developmental, non-political work (including in
local watershed management). Such an offer of partnership
could start with a scientific and technological exchange
between leading USG and GOI environmental scientists, under
UNDP auspices, to discuss latest developments in desalination
or irrigation technologies. Another alternative, proposed by
an academic contact, would be to make an initial offer of
USG-funded partnership via academic channels, for example
from California State University or Texas A&M, both of which
have Centers for Irrigation Technology, to leading Iranian
universities like Sharif, Tehran, and Gorgan University. Any
such offer must be done openly, making clear that USG funding
is being used. Finally, an offer to facilitate a regional
trans-boundary water "confidence-building" dialogue could be
conveyed in any number of official ways, including by a third
party like Turkey, under the auspices of whatever regional
economic or political forum would be most appropriate (e.g.,
one that includes all relevant participants as members).
Comments

7. (C) As environmental experts from Iran's NGO and academic
communities, it is no surprise that these contacts would
actively encourage USG partnership with Iran on water issues.
Indeed, to some degree it is professionally self-serving.
But it also reflects a non-ideological pragmatism that we
believe is a common trait among Iran's environmental and
water experts. Experts from this field tend to be
results-oriented, and to recognize that these cross-cutting
crises require international coordination (and a willingness
to accept foreign help) sooner rather than later. These
contacts believe firmly that a USG offer of cooperation in
these areas, made after Iran's elections, would be met with a
cautiously pragmatic response from the GOI and with grateful
enthusiasm from Iran's scientific and environmental
communities.

8. (C) The one recommendation that merits a strong
cautionary note is the proposal for a multilateral
confidence-building approach to trans-boundary water sources.
As Ref B and C note, we believe it is highly unlikely that
Turkey would ever agree to have water resources discussed and
allocated under any multinational or multilateral system
involving non-riparian states, but rather strongly prefers to
address water issues on a watershed basis, with all countries
sharing a watershed jointly managing both water supply and
demand. Thus far, including with Iran, that concept has been
a tough sell.

9. (C) The idea of offering US assistance to Iran in the
areas of agriculture and environment is not new. The P5-1's
June 2006 incentives offer to Iran included "support for
agricultural development in Iran, including possible access
to United States and European agricultural products,
technology, and farm equipment." Possible partnership with
or assistance to Iran on issues like irrigation and
desalination could helpfully reinforce the appeal of the
P5-1's agricultural assistance offer, as Iran's leaders, and
its agricultural sector stakeholders, come to realize that
there is a direct causal link between better water
management, more efficient irrigation, and more productive
agriculture.

10. (SBU) We will stay in contact with these contacts and
will report any further environmental developments or
suggestions that they share with us.
OUDKIRK