Climate Change and Challenges for Sustainable Development in Tehran Metropolitan Area

The world’s climate is changing and will continue to change into the coming century at rates projected to be unprecedented in recent human history. Climate change, air pollution, urban heat effect and heat waves, peak energy demands, lack of green space are amongst the most criticalenvironmental issues in Iranian urban areas especially in Tehran metropolitan area. Tehran as a city of 7.8 million people in a metropolitan area of 13.4 million, faces major challenges in climate change and sustainable development. To achieve sustainable development goals, numerous attempts have been made to reduce the impacts of climate change and associated socio-economic impacts of construction activities and rapidurbanization in recent years. Climate change and sustainable development have been addressed in largely separate circles in both research and policy. Nevertheless, there are strong linkages between the two in both realms. Identifying the impacts of climate change on sustainable development may be a first step toward building cost-effective strategies and integrated, institutional capacity to respond to climate change. In this paper we explore different aspects of climate change in Tehran metropolitan area and its impact on achieving the sustainable development goals. This study uses a descriptive-analytical method to investigate the linkage between key aspects of climate change and sustainable development in Tehran metropolitan area. By broadening our understanding about the problem- climate change in the context of sustainable development- we can focus on implementing real solutions and cost-effective strategies to respond to climate change.

Keywords:

Sustainable development , climate change , environment , urbanization