Legal Probe of Commitment to Wise Use of Orumiyeh Lake in the Light of Ramsar Convention

Orumiyeh Lake is one of the most important wetlands of Iran which has registered in the list of wetlands of international importance of Ramsar convention. Base on this convention Iran has bound to make wise use of Orumiyeh lake. Wise use of this wetland is completely connected with taking a comprehensive approach in using the wetland, environmental impact assessment of the proposed projects, defining the especial water divide of the wetland and legislating in order to support it. In spite of this, several problems such as passing Shahid Kalantari highway and cutting the wetland into two separated parts, building tens of obstacles in the basin of the lake and depriving it from its water divide, in addition to 2⁰ increase in the temperature of the area and continuous droughts, have changed the ecological characters of the lake and dried about 18/4 of it and created 1800 square kilometer of desert. With doing the developmental projects without regarding the environmental impacts, the ecological characters of the lake have changed and the commitment to wise use of wetlands breached. So designating the water divide of the lake and complying the comprehensive management program of the lake could revive this wetland and secure the wise use of it.