With the arrival of summer, field reports and growing public appeals indicate that the drought crisis in the Hoor Al-Azim Wetland has intensified, placing the lives and livelihoods of local communities at increasing risk.
Once home to valuable wildlife species, including the Maxwell’s otter, and the primary source of income for thousands of wetland residents, Hoor Al-Azim is once again facing severe environmental degradation due to the continued failure to allocate and release its legally mandated environmental water share.
The livelihoods of indigenous communities, whose way of life is closely tied to livestock farming—particularly water buffalo breeding—are now on the verge of collapse as large sections of the wetland continue to dry up.
Beyond the devastating loss of biodiversity and the destruction of the local economy, the retreat of the wetland’s waters has created a serious public health crisis. The dried lakebed has become one of the region’s main sources of dust storms, with airborne dust posing a significant threat to the health of residents across the Ahwaz region (Khuzestan Province) and neighboring provinces.
In response, environmental activists and local residents launched a campaign on June 27 entitled “Release Hoor Al-Azim’s Water Rights.” Participants warned of the irreversible environmental and humanitarian consequences of the ongoing crisis and called for the immediate and sustainable release of the wetland’s legally guaranteed water allocation.
The Karoun Human Rights Organization expressed its support for the legitimate demands of the people of the Ahwaz region and environmental advocates, emphasizing that access to water and a healthy environment are fundamental human rights. The organization stated that the continued denial of Hoor Al-Azim’s environmental water rights constitutes a clear violation of the rights to life, health, and livelihood of the region’s residents and called for urgent action to address the crisis.
