40-years of Lake Urmia restoration research: Review, synthesis and next steps

Parsinejad M., Rosenberg D. E., Ghale Y. A. G., Khazaei B., Null S. E., Raja O., ...Daha Fazla

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, cilt.832, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
  • Cilt numarası: 832
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155055
  • Dergi Adı: SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Analytical Abstracts, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), BIOSIS, Biotechnology Research Abstracts, CAB Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, EMBASE, Environment Index, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Geobase, Greenfile, MEDLINE, Metadex, Pollution Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, Veterinary Science Database, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Lake Urmia, Coupled human -natural system, Restoration, Water management, Saline Lake, REMOTELY-SENSED DATA, HYPER-SALINE LAKE, CLIMATE-CHANGE, ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS, ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION, CONFLICT-RESOLUTION, WATER PRODUCTIVITY, SPATIAL VARIATIONS, SURROUNDING AREAS, DUST EMISSION
  • İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Public concern over environmental issues such as ecosystem degradation is high. However, restoring coupled human -natural systems requires integration across many science, technology, engineering, management, and governance topics that are presently fragmented. Here, we synthesized 544 peer-reviewed articles published through September 2020 on the desiccation and nascent recovery of Lake Urmia in northwest Iran. We answered nine questions of scien-tific and popular interest about causes, impacts, stabilization, recovery, and next steps. We find: (1) Expansion of irri-gated agriculture, dam construction, and mismanagement impacted the lake more than temperature increases and precipitation decreases. (2) Aerosols from Lake Urmia's exposed lakebed are negatively impacting human health. (3) Researchers disagree on how a new causeway breach will impact salinity, evaporation, and ecosystems in the lake's north and south arms. (4) Most researchers tried to restore to a single, uniform, government specified lake level of 1274.1 m intended to recover Artemia. (5) The Iranian government motivated and funded a large and growing body of lake research. (6) Ecological and limnological studies mostly focused on salinity, Artemia, and Flamingos. (7) Few studies shared data, and only three studies reported engagement with stakeholders or managers. (8) Researchers fo- cused on an integration pathway of climate downscaling, reservoirs, agricultural water releases, and lake level. (9) Nu- merous suggestions to improve farmer livelihoods and governance require implementation. We see an overarching next step for lake recovery is to couple human and natural system components. Examples include: (a) describe and monitor the system food webs, hydrologic, and human components; (b) adapt management to monitored conditions such as lake level, lake evaporation, lake salinity, and migratory bird populations; (c) improve livelihoods for poor, chronically stressed farmers beyond agriculture; (d) manage for diverse ecosystem services and lake levels; (e) engage all segments of society; (f) integrate across restoration topics while building capacity to share data, models, and code; and (g) cultivate longer-term two-way exchanges and public support. These restoration steps apply in differ- ent degrees to other Iranian ecosystems and lakes worldwide.