Iran Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

air pollution, especially in urban areas, from vehicle emissions, refinery operations, and industrial effluents; deforestation; overgrazing; desertification; oil pollution in the Persian Gulf; wetland losses from drought; soil degradation (salination); inadequate supplies of potable water; water pollution from raw sewage and industrial waste; urbanization

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation

Climate

mostly arid or semiarid, subtropical along Caspian coast

Land use

agricultural land: 30.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 10.8% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 18.1% (2018 est.)

forest: 6.8% (2018 est.)

other: 63.1% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 77.3% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.32% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.01% of GDP (2017 est.)

Revenue from coal

0.01% of GDP (2017 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 31.62 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 661.71 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 158.71 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 17.885 million tons (2017 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 894,250 tons (2017 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 5% (2017 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

salt water lake(s): Caspian Sea (shared with Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan) - 374,000 sq km; Lake Urmia - 5,200 sq km; Lake Namak - 750 sq km

Major rivers (by length in km)

Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Syria, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Syria, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km; Helmand (shared with Afghanistan [s]) - 1,130 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Indian Ocean drainage: (Persian Gulf) Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 6.2 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 1.1 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 86 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

137.05 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Geoparks

total global geoparks and regional networks: 3

global geoparks and regional networks: Aras; Qeshm Island; Tabas (2023)