Hamun is one of the most critical border wetlands of Iran and Southwest Asia, registered in the Ramsar International Convention. This wetland is the most important ecological, security, and geopolitical factor between the three countries of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Now, by building more than twenty dams in its west in two watersheds of Hirmand and Harirrood, Afghanistan will create a severe crisis for drinking water supply for people in Zabul and Mashhad and thousands of small towns and villages. Unfortunately, it seems that the Taliban do not care about international conventions and border agreements with Iran, and by taking advantage of the Kamal Khan Dam, they have even changed the course of the Hirmand River towards Godzareh on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan so that not even a drop of water reaches Sistan and Hamun, in Iran. On Hamun night this tragedy’s environmental and cultural factors were discussed.
This preface is the statement that Bukhara made on its official website, in explaining the importance and reasons for holding “Bukhara Night”, before holding this night.
Hamun Night was organized by Ali Dehbashi, the director of Bukhara cultural and artistic magazine, on the 7th of Khordad 1402 (May 28) at the Ferdowsi Hall of Humanities Scholars.
What is mentioned in this report is about what happened on this night and the unspoken record of this great man’s efforts for organizing such nights, just because of his love for Iran. Although he has organized many nights in honor of the great scholars of the Western world, he still loves Iran.
Reza Kianian, Mohammad Darwish, Manya Shafahi, and Ali Dehbashi gave speeches at this meeting. The successful and valuable documentary “Once Upon a Time, Hamun” by Mohammad Ehsani was displayed, and this director gave a lecture on the process of making and showing this work, as well as photos by Hamed Gholami titled “Telwaseh Hamun” along with the presentation and introduction of the book by this young photographer was exhibited.
At first, Ali dehbashi, chief editor of Bukhara magazine, spoke briefly about Hamun and its importance for Iran, about Hamun’s strong and permanent presence in Iranian literature and culture, and the history he witnessed and observed.
Next, Reza Kianian, actor and environmental activist, spoke about the background of his environmental and cultural activities with regard to Lake Urmia’s restoration and other activities in protecting and restoring Iran’s environment. He then counted the important role that Hamun played for the future of Iran’s environment. He spoke about holding training classes for Sistan’s men, women and children in the village, to reach them about the black/brown bear native to this area and its importance in preserving the region’s vegetation. He explained the livelihood of the local people from fishing in Hamun and the direct dependence of the vegetation around Lake Hamun on the handicrafts of this province and its destruction due to recent droughts and the creation of sandstorms and pollution. He then spoke about how Iranians, in the historic past, would preserve water underground, but how the building of dams these days is bringing the biggest damage and causing water shortage in Iran.
The other lecturer of this meeting was Zohreh Seyadi, an environmental researcher from Sistani, who read a literary text about Afghanistan’s fabric trade in the historical past, the drought of Hamun, and the destruction of fishing by which the people of this area earn their living; the war and destruction happening in Afghanistan, and the need to restore and preserve Hamun’s wetlands through dialogue and discussion. Iranian officials should settle this issue with the Taliban through mediation and international help. She continued: “Perhaps the Taliban at this moment think that sistan and Baluchistan deserve the quick sands, but do they know that nature has no borders? The quicksand will easily pass beyond Taliban weapons. Maybe, even the international community will think that in just one corner of the world people are losing their songs, poems, music, stories and culture, and this has nothing to do with them. But do they know that any drought, death and destruction will affect other parts of the world too? These are things that the representative of sistan and Baluchistan needs to know, and to act responsibly for the land of our legends, and our historic heroes.”
Next to speak was Mania Shafahi, director of Senobar environmental quarterly. First, she extended her gratitude to Ali Dehbashi for his supporting their magazine, and then continued by mourning over the suffering of Hamun. She said that whatever is said in this night is the story of the sufferings of this land, this region and the nature of Iran. While naming the present environment conditions disastrous, she asked to have hope. She expressed with thought-provoking feelings that “we have to turn all our great sorrows into great action because this is our land. This is our homeland, and the soil is kind and strong. So we have to join hands and build our country.” She thanked Senobar’s companions and helpers, introduced the Senobar quarterly, announced her readiness to create the Sistan, Baluchistan, and Hamun case, and asked for help from environmental activists and writers.
The last speaker of the evening was environmental activist Mohammad Darwish, who expressed hope for the revival of Hamun due to the presence of numerous lovers of this wetland in this meeting, despite personal problems, and began his speech by saying, “If it were not for Hamun, neither Shahnameh, nor Rostam, nor all those enchanting legends would exist, and this shows how much we are rooted in our Iranian identity, and the reason for this enthusiastic presence in this night is our deep love for Hamun.” He thanked Ali Dehbashi and other speakers and continued his speech by saying that “Hirmand is a river with a length of 1150 kilometers that reaches one of the smoothest and lowest plains from the highest heights of the Hindu Kush on the border between Afghanistan and China to Iran-Afghanistan border. Until 1959, when the Americans built the Kajaki dam on it, the Afghan governments did not do much to control it, and a considerable amount of water flowed from it to Iran and Hirmand. This water was so much that it overflowed and entered Godzareh again from the side of Iran on the border of Pakistan.
It was after Kajaki dam was built that signs of the great crisis started showing signs of a big crisis, why it has a capacity of 2.8 billion cubic meters. Because they were faced with the coup and the puppet government of union took power, and Afghanistan was facing insecurity for a long time; the last 2 meters of the dam crown and the emergency valve were not built. Otherwise, the disaster would have creased for Iran. Later, when China and India helped Afghanistan in terms of technology, and the Taliban moved water from Hirmand to poppy fields through motor pumps, Afghanistan had an area of 100,000 hectares during the last decade. 1.5 billion more water was used in this area. For many years, Afghanistan sought to build the Kamal Khan Dam. Finally, with the support of the American government and with their strong support and cement sent from Iran, the Kamal Khan Dam was founded, and Ashraf Ghani, in his famous speech, that if the Iranians, in addition to their water rights of 820 million cubic meters in the treaty In 1351 (1972), it was approved between Hoveyda and Shafiq, they want us to pay them that water in exchange for oil. In that agreement, a point is included that the payment of Iran’s water rights is on the condition that it is an average year. An ordinary year is when the natural flow of Hirmand is 6.5 billion cubic meters, something about 9 to 10 times that of Zayandeh Rood.
He discussed Hamun’s poverty, people’s livelihood from the fishing and mat-weaving industry, and Iran’s grain storage. He stated that if Afghanistan had political stability in the past few decades, we would have reached the crisis point as soon as possible. He further reminded that, unfortunately, this year, the Taliban overflowed 1 billion cubic meters of water from Kajaki Dam and Kamal Khan Dam. Still, they did not allow it to enter Iran, and it entered Godzareh to evaporate. He called it a crime to change the direction of the Hirmand River by 180 degrees to prevent Iran’s productivity. He called the threat of Tigris, Herat, and Aras by the Turks by building dams dangerous. He called the dependence of Iran’s ecosystem on the Harir River another danger. He stated that in terms of passive defense, we should create alternative and safe sources of fresh water for our compatriots in Zahedan, Zabul, Mashhad, and all the eastern villages. Despite the commitment to international treaties and Hamun’s international registration due to the efforts of Iskandar Firouz in the global registration of Hamun Wetland in the Ramsar Convention, the government of Iran should, considering the unpopularity of the Taliban rulers and its lack of recognition as a leading country, create an opportunity out of this crisis, to introduce itself as a source of global concerns.
He called the discovery of new sources of water, the creation of a treatment plant, avoiding water transfer projects, and dam constructions as the solution to the water problem in Iran, and pointed to the impossibility of extracting water from the underground aquifer in Zabul, the emergence of Dexon in the Persian Gulf. He said it could use solar energy and reduce environmental damage, desalinize, and deliver nearly 40 million cubic meters of water to Zabul. This issue can be the cause of our strength in negotiating with the Taliban regarding the request for Iran’s water rights. He considered the next step to change the layout of the development plan in Sistan and called the function of Sistan protection. Darvish listed the current programs in line with the development of unsustainable agriculture and expressed the region’s dependence on Hamun water and showing weakness to the Taliban in negotiations and added: by reviving Hamon, we can return resilience to the area, create fishing income, and create a difference between night and day temperatures. By restoring the reeds, curbing the sources of dust production, increasing the health and livability index in Sistan, and then considering the unique attractions of Sistan, i.e., Khawja Mountain, the burnt city and dozens of valuable ancient birthplaces of the region and the fascinating legends of this region, we can generate sustainable money. And with the return of birds, we will earn income from watching birds (bird watching) in this area. The excrement from these birds can bring fish food and soil fertility to the site in the long term and then to sustainable, affordable, and limited agriculture in this area; to reach this region and, later, by creating hydroponic systems to create limited food production for the people of this region. He added that by creating solar farms, building wind turbines, and energy production, we could make Afghanistan depend on us and prevent 160-day winds.
Ali Dehbashi criticized BBC’s support for spreading lies by Taliban to make the Hirmand appear untrue. Then, documentary maker Mohammad Ehsani introduced the documentary “Once Upon a Time, Hamun.” This film was created in 2015 with the support of the UNDP office in Iran. He explained that at the beginning, this film was filmed in Iran to compile a promotional work to show the activities of this organization and the Manarid project, to be shown at the United Nations and to obtain global aid for the restoration of the Hamun wetland, but with his trip to this region, he saw Zabulis as true Iranian and the most patriotic. This close relationship led to the change of this work into a work of art that has so far had more than 60 appearances at international festivals and universities and has won more than 16 international awards. This film was screened at the Atlantic Council think tank in 2016, and it was supposed to give 2 billion dollars to Iran to revive Hamun, but unfortunately, the agreements fell apart when Trump took office. He said this film was the voice of the people who have no voice! and with a short explanation, the Once Upon a Time, Hamun documentary was shown to those present at the meeting. This film was also shown at the opening of the World Water Summit in Brazil in 2020, showing the importance of this Iranian documentary film.
In another part of this meeting a short film of Hamed Gholami’s photos was displayed. This young and skilled photographer spoke about the book of his photo collection titled “Telwaseh Hamuon” which was taken from this region in 10 years.
Hamun night, as an effective step in introducing Hamun and the need for paying attention to it and the present problems of Hirmand and Harir Rud, ended with a reception for the guests.
