Sand and dust storms are a growing environmental and development challenge in Iran, affecting people’s health and livelihoods, damaging infrastructure and placing additional pressure on already fragile ecosystems. More than 25 provinces are affected to varying degrees, underscoring the need to move beyond responding to individual storms towards prevention, preparedness, and longer-term resilience.

Since 2023, UNDP has been working with Iran’s Department of Environment (DOE) and the National Secretariat for Policy Making and Coordination of Management for the Sand and Dust Storms Phenomenon to strengthen this shift.

Through a national assessment supported by UNDP, 30 critical domestic sand and dust storm source areas were identified and prioritized for intervention. The analysis combines information on the intensity of SDS hazards, ecological vulnerability, and the exposure of people and critical infrastructure. It brings together environmental data with information on settlements, roads, railways, and agricultural areas to identify where vulnerable landscapes and exposed communities intersect.

The results provide an evidence base for directing resources towards areas where they can have the greatest impact—from restoring vegetation and stabilizing soils to protecting wetlands, infrastructure and communities. The assessment found that 20 per cent of Iran’s land area falls within high or very high SDS risk categories, reinforcing the importance of targeted and preventive action.

“Sand and dust storms do not respect borders. Over the past three years, our partnership with UNDP has demonstrated what collective action can achieve, advancing mitigation and adaptation measures across four provinces and strengthening resilience to their impacts,” said Dr. Behzad Raygani, Secretary of the National Secretariat for Sand and Dust Storms.

At the same time, Iran is strengthening its capacity to anticipate and manage SDS events. Under the UNDP-supported initiative, forecasting and early-warning capacity has been strengthened through fixed and portable monitoring systems. Technical work has also laid the groundwork for a national and regional real-time SDS monitoring application.

The work extends from national systems to landscapes and communities. Technical assessments in Khuzestan, Ilam, Yazd, and Semnan have integrated SDS considerations into biodiversity and landscape planning across approximately 47,000 hectares, linking SDS mitigation with ecosystem conservation and future investment decisions. 
In the Touran landscape in Semnan, this integrated approach combines vegetation restoration, more efficient water use and improved grazing management with efforts to protect one of Iran’s most important biodiversity areas. In addition, SDS mitigation measures have been implemented across 270 hectares of the Touran Protected Area, a key habitat for the endangered Asiatic Cheetah.

Provincial capacity assessments in Ilam and Khuzestan have also led to new action plans, clearer institutional roles and stronger SDS working groups, helping translate national priorities into coordinated action on the ground.
These efforts are part of a broader national move towards more proactive SDS management, including plans for an online system to continuously monitor dust source areas, a decision-support system in Khuzestan.

The experience is particularly timely as governments and partners meet in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026 for the seventeenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17). Under the theme “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.”, COP17 is focusing global attention on land restoration, drought resilience and sustainable land management, with sand and dust storms also featuring a dedicated high-level event.

Iran’s experience demonstrates the value of connecting science and risk information with practical action: knowing where risks are greatest, strengthening early warning, restoring vulnerable ecosystems and involving institutions and communities in solutions. 

As countries at COP17 consider how to accelerate action against land degradation and build resilience, this approach offers a clear lesson: managing sand and dust storms starts long before the dust is in the air.

UNDP, in partnership with national stakeholders and international partners, will continue to build on this work to strengthen resilience to sand and dust storms across Iran. Areas of continued collaboration include drawing on local and indigenous knowledge to develop mitigation and adaptation measures for SDS; promoting innovative and multifunctional land-use solutions that combine land restoration, renewable energy and SDS management; and strengthening biodiversity conservation in landscapes increasingly exposed to sand and dust storms. By connecting science, local knowledge and nature-positive solutions, these efforts can help reduce vulnerability, restore degraded landscapes and strengthen the resilience of communities and ecosystems.