Climate Change Drives Mass Migration Crisis in Iran

Government Mismanagement and Rapid Population Growth Exacerbate Crisis, Warn Experts

• Iran is experiencing a mass migration crisis due to climate change, with tens of thousands of Iranians displaced each year due to record temperatures, prolonged droughts, and the drying up of rivers and lakes.
• Many of the climate migrants are farmers, laborers, and fishermen who are moving with their families from the countryside to major urban areas in Iran in search of alternative livelihoods.
• Iranian officials have blamed worsening water scarcity and rising desertification on climate change, but experts say the crisis has been exacerbated by government mismanagement and rapid population growth.
• Climate migration has put a growing strain on infrastructure and created socioeconomic problems in Iranian cities, including rising poverty, homelessness, and overcrowding.
• Some Iranian officials have warned that many parts of the Islamic republic could eventually become uninhabitable, leading to a mass exodus from the Middle Eastern country.

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