Iran’s Environmental Challenges and Movements on the Margins

Dr Allan Hassaniyan is a Senior Lecturer in Middle East Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He is the author of Kurdish Politics in Iran Crossborder Interactions and Mobilisation (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Hassaniyan’s current research focuses on state-society relationships in Iran and Kurdistan, environmental movements, ecological security, and challenges in the Middle East. His publications have been featured in different international journals, including Middle Eastern Studies; Conflict Security and Development; and Local Environment, the International Journal of Justice and Sustainability.

This book is a vital contribution that illuminates the environmental struggles of Iran’s subaltern and marginalised communities in peripheral regions such as Kurdistan and Khuzestan—an urgent, understudied, and often invisible dimension of environmental politics. It powerfully links Iran’s ever‑pressing water crisis to its broader ecological challenges through rich and compelling empirical data.

• AcknowledgmentsList of Maps, Figures, and TablesAbbreviationsIntroductionThe Historical Roots of Peripheral MarginalisationMethodology and Data CollectionChapter Overview1. Theoretical Frameworks, Global Perspective and Evolution of Iran’s Environmental MovementsReflection of Global Environmental MovementsSubaltern Environmentalism and Environmental JusticeDisputed Concepts: Security, Development and SustainabilityMiddle East and North Africa’s Ecological CrisisIran’s Environmental Movements and ChallengesExpansion of Environmental NGO: From the 1990s OnwardsEnvironmentalism as a Securitised PlatformPeripheral Environmental MovementsInternally Colonised PeripheriesIran’s Multifaceted Environmental ChallengesEnvironmental Deficiencies and Health Risks2. Iran’s Disproportionate Water Demand and Detrimental Hydraulic InfrastructureEnvironmental Policy and DevelopmentDevelopment and Water PolicyDetrimental Hydraulic InfrastructuresDestructive Inter-basin Water Transfers and Local Reaction3. The Destructive Dams of Khuzestan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and MazandaranGotvand: Iran’s Largest Saline BasinKhorsan Dam III: Engineering MadnessKarun Dam III and Tang Sorkh DamBehesht Abad DamNorthern Periphery’s Dams and Water Transfer PlansThe Iranian Azerbaijan: A different peripheryThe Complex Network of Inter-Basin Water TransfersRecipient Basin’s Contribution to Donor Basin’s Destruction4. Iran’s Water Mafia and State-Company AlliancesIRGC and Iran’s Water ResourcesThe Obscure Bureaucratic ApparatusJudicial incapability and Unlawful budgetsThe Correlation Between International Sanctions and Environmental DestructionHow Sanctions Strengthened State-Company Alliances in Iran?5. Environmental Lessons from RojhelatEnvironmental Degradation in the Age of Nation-StatesHasankeyf: A Kurdish Struggle for SurvivalKurdistan’s Environmental IssuesRojhelat’s Environmental MovementObjectives of Kurdish EnvironmentalismWildfires and Environmental Response6. Darian and the Save Kani Bell Campaign: Kurdistan’s Anti-dam MovementDarian and its Detrimental EffectsDarian’s Disregard for Kani BellKani Bell: An Ecological Asset and a Kurdish National IconThe formation of the Save Kani Bell CampaignThe Save Kani Bell Special Working GroupDisputed Terms: Security and SustainabilityRojhelat’s Potential for Sustainable Investment and Development7. Baluchistan; drought, sandstorm, and environmental migrationBaluchistan’s DroughtHamoon: Once a Source of LifeDust Storms and Environmental MigrationSistan and Baluchistan’s Untapped PotentialsConclusionReferencesIndex