Ecological problems and social mobilization: The case of Urmia Lake

This thesis, titled Ecological Problems and Social Mobilization, evaluates the drought problem of a large basin. It focuses on Urmia Lake, which is not only an ecological problem but an issue of substantial concern to humanity. The lake, being the second largest saline lake in the Middle East, is under the UNESCO biosphere reserve program and the International Ramsar Agreement. As such, the issues pertaining to this lake go beyond the regional and national dimensions and have an international character. This water problem can have an impact on people's lives in dimensions such as economy and health, and can lead to consequences such as forced migration. In fact, the health problems that may arise in the continuation of the drying up of the lake, which is a harbinger of an ecological disaster with its human and environmental aspects, the shrinking economy and the unrest that they may cause are of local and national importance. However, as the border region with various countries is a basin, it can form an ecological security context that can partially affect neighboring countries with the drying up. The way to investigate the various dimensions of this subject, which is addressed with its ecological and social aspects, and to create the necessary awareness, is an academic study with an interdisciplinary framework. The main point that distinguishes this study from other studies is that Urmiye Lake approaches the problem of drying, which is a vital issue, by focusing on social and environmental dimensions rather than existing research based on technical knowledge. The research focuses on how the drying of a salty lake can affect over 5 million social life and other living creatures around it, water, air, soil, and the whole ecosystem. In this regard, a literature study has been conducted on the two-way system as water and social ecosystem. As the second pillar of the theoretical framework, within the context of the concept of social mobilization, a ground has been established to monitor various kinds of mobility. In the first part, it is compared with international examples of similar characteristics, with-respect-to the subject case study and the vitality of its importance. In this context, with an interdisciplinary perspective, two international lake examples such as Aral Lake and Grate Salt Lake (GSL), which bear similarities with Urmia Lake, were evaluated. The way the subject is handled in general, and the issues related to the drying problem in Urmia Lake, is based on two unassuming questions: A) Factors concerning the nature of what compromises the environmental problem and how they arise in Urmia Lake, B) In relation to the first question, it focuses on what the economic, political, social and physical-ecological consequences of this problem are and what kind of dynamism/mobilization it causes. Following the literature review and world examples, which are prioritized in the thesis, a basin mapping that covers 3 pillars has been made and the factors causing a drought problem of this scale have been investigated. In this context, two types of ecological and social factors are mentioned, and each is detailed separately. For example, in the ecological framework (internal intervention), climate change, greenhouse gases, global warming, and decreasing precipitation due to dry years have been mentioned. At the same time, External interventions by humans are listed along with the reasons behind them, such as changing the agricultural structure, population increase, and construction of various dams on rivers are analyzed. In the second chapter, the economic, political, social and physical-ecological dimensions causing the problem are discussed and an introduction to the socio-political mobilization resulting from these problems is provided. For example, a lot of research has been done in terms of first-hand resource transportation in the region, focusing on how the health and livelihoods of the local people, which are the most affected by drought, are triggered. As it was clearly stated during the face-to-face interviews appearing in the field research, the negative conditions that caused some local people to migrate from the region were also mentioned. The evolution of the policies of the central state and local governments, which are effective actors, towards drought in these matters, is provided in chapter 3. In this context, four presidential periods, namely Rafsanjani, Khatami, Ahmadinejad and Rohani, are evaluated. The activities of local administrations are mentioned as initiatives that started the Rouhani period regarding the activities of draining the lake. In addition, the initiatives of the Urmia Lake Restoration Program established in the center of Tehran Sharif University are also evaluated. In a way, these activities were also considered as a perceived political need by the state for increasing local public issues, rising objections and mobilization of a region against a growing environmental disaster. Following this chapter, the title of Cultural-Artistic Awareness and Social Mobilization has been examined in the 4th part, which is also the most widely discussed part of this study. The initiatives of the local people who felt the effects of the drought most closely and very deeply were examined. It has proceeded through the perception of local people regarding this issue and is based on lack of sustainability of the activities that have been implemented by the central state for years, causing an enormous humanitarian problem, along with ill effecting other living organisms in the ecosystem. In addition, attempts by the local public to bring life back to the basin are cited. For example, in the Traxtor matches, which is known as an eco-nationalist stadium, the rising protests, the increasing number of NGOs and their initiatives, the unrest of the local population, the awareness movement of the ecologist circles, the film, theater and documentary producers, the mobility in the fields of poetry, music and literature have been evaluated. Studies within the framework of initiatives such as literature reviews, interdisciplinary publications, field researches, face-to-face interviews, access to films, documentaries and similar resources on the subject were carried out in four Turkish, Persian, English and Azerbaijani Turkish languages.