Climate Change and Drought Monitoring for Dust Storm Management: United Nations-Islamic Republic of Iran Workshop “Use of Space Technology for Dust Storm and Drought Monitoring in the Middle East Region” 5-9November 2016 , Tehran, Iran Climate Change and Drought Monitoring for Dust Storm Management: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward  Arash MALEKIAN Associate Professor, University of Tehran, Iran E-mail: malekian@ut.ac.ir

Drought Creeping hazard: slow onset, long-duration, chronic, relatively large areal extent. Worldwide, not tied to certain geography, but more frequent in “semi-arid” climates.

Water shortage in 1950

©IWMI, 2001 Water shortage in 2025

Water shortage in 2050

Iran is located in the southwest of Asia between 44º 02´ and 63º 20´ eastern longitude and 25º 03´ to 39º 46´northern latitude. The country covers an area of about 1.648 million square km. Area: 1.648 million km2 Population: 75 million No of provinces: 30 Average Rainfall: 250 mm Neighboring Countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, U.A.Emirates

Climate Iran’s climate varies from region to region: • The winter temperatures in the mountainous areas of the north-west drop as low as -29˚C • The Khuzestan Plain has extremely hot humid summer with an average temperature of about 35˚C • Most of the interior plateau has a dry climate, but the winters are mild and pleasant • The average annual precipitation is 250 mm and the range (varies from 50 mm to more than 1600 mm )

General description: Iran Hyrcanian Forests annual prec.: 1100 mm Central Desert annual prec.: 0 mm

Arid and Semi Arid Regions Extreme climatic coniditions 2 1 Drought Flood

Drought in Iran Drought is one of the most serious natural disasters in the world and Iran, which has exerted great pressure on ecological sustainability and diversity, food and water supply, etc. Drought frequency has increased in many parts of Iran, and more severe drought events has happened in the last 50 years.

Greenhouse Effect and Global warming

What about the solution? Drought Accelerates Dust Storms! Drought and Dust Storms Know No Country Borders ! So: What about the solution?

Dust storms are natural events Dust storms are natural events. However, scientists believe human activity is causing them to occur more frequently in certain regions, and their impact can be devastating. Co-existing with dust storms can be summarized in three words: prevention, preparation and prediction.

Impact of Climate Change and Drought on Different Sectors Risk Management vs. Crisis Management!!!! Impact of Climate Change and Drought on Different Sectors A National Master Plan Maybe regional plan in the future! Who knows?

Conclusion With global warming and water demands increasing, drought and consequent dust storms will be the long-term challenges in the future from a global perspective. Droughts and dust storms are the normal part of nature. Human beings cannot avoid them, but we can reduce the disaster risk by taking proactive measures, thus avoid or alleviate the disaster. Remote sensing is a very useful tool to understand the origin, extent and frequency of dust storms for early warning and better understanding and management of the disaster especially for distant and less accessible regions.

Conclusion Importance of Regional Collaboration and Framework in Drought and Dust storm Management As the core content and key element of risk management, drought and consequent dust storms should get more and more concern from governments, researchers, communities, even public.

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