时    间：2025年 10 月29 日（星期三 ）  

地    点：地理资源所A848

报 告 人：Roohollah Noori 教授（10:30—12:00）

报告题目：Alarming Decline of Iran’s Ramsar Convention Wetlands and Lakes 

报告人简介：Dr. Roohollah Noori received his PhD's degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Tehran,Iran,in 2012. In 2014,he joined University of Tehran,where he currently specializes in freshwater pollution caused by both natural (e.g.,geogenic drivers) and anthropogenic sources (e.g.,land-use/cover changes) at local,regional,and global scales. He employs a wide range of methods,including physically-based models,data-driven approaches,satellite and airborne imagery,reanalysis and gridded data,in-situ observations,and socioeconomic datasets,to address the pollution and restoration of aquatic ecosystems. He is also a senior scientist in the United Nations University Institute for Water,Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH),specializing in Environmental Pollution and Hydro-Informatics. 

Iran ranks second only to Greece in wetland loss,with six wetlands listed in the Montreux Record. Using satellite imagery from 1986 to 2023,we analyzed changes in the water surface area of 23 out of 25 Iranian wetlands and lakes (hereafter referred to as “sites”) registered under the Ramsar Convention. We also examined the primary drivers of these changes and their environmental and socioeconomic consequences. Our findings reveal that only six small sites have retained their normal conditions,while the rest have undergone significant shrinkage,primarily due to government policies promoting agricultural self-sufficiency. The total water surface area of these 23 sites has declined by over 57%, from 11,539 km² during the base period (1986–1995) to 4,921 km² in 2023. Economically, Iran has forfeited approximately US$2.415 billion annually in ecosystem services provided by these sites while depleting aquifers in 421 out of 609 national plains to achieve a modest US$1.3 billion per year increase in agricultural value-added growth. The desiccation of these sites has triggered severe economic, environmental,social,and health repercussions. Immediate and sustainable interventions are urgently required to halt further degradation.