The Development of Makran Depends on the Adoption of Maritime Strategy and Land Use Planning

The vast territory of Iran is one of the dry and scarce water regions of the world. In this dry climate, Iranians lived for many centuries and adapted to the dry land and created a magnificent civilization based on the aqueduct mechanism and water engineering and respect for nature. This civilization was created and continued with the strategy and attitude of land-basic. However, in recent decades, due to industrial quantitative growth policies and the increasing growth of urbanism and consumer-oriented lifestyles and neglecting the principles of sustainable development and land use planning, it has faced congestion and overload, the consequences of which threaten environmental security and even civilization survival is parts of the central plateau of Iran. In such a situation and under the pressure of sanctions, Iran's ecological resilience has become very fragile. The solution is to change the strategy from an internal and land-based approach to a sea-based, coastal and external strategic approach. Therefore, the main question of research is what are the advantages of Makran region and how can its capacities be used for regional development and Iran? In response to this question, the hypothesis of the research is that Makran region, within the framework of land use planning and maritime civilization strategy, has great economic, transit, geopolitical, geo-economic, tourism and settlement advantages and opportunities that can act as a gateway of hope and development in the future of Iran.

The present research is practical in nature. This research has been done by descriptive and analytical method. The purpose of the study is to identify the challenges of development in Iran and the necessity of explaining the strategic change in the macro policies of Iran from the land-based strategic approach to the sea-based and coastal strategic approach based on the unique capacities of the Makran region. Although the study area is the whole of Iran, but due to the problem solving perspective, a special emphasis has been placed on the Makran region. The southeastern coast of Iran, which corresponds to the coast of Iran in the Oman Sea, is known as Makran coast or region. This geographic range starts from Sirik in the south of Minab and continues to the Iran-Pakistan border in the Gulf of Gwadar. This coastal area is more than 600 km long, of which about 300 km is in the south of Sistan and Baluchistan province and in the four districts of Dashtiari, Chabahar, Kanarak and Zarabad and about 300 km in Hormozgan province and in Jask and Sirik districts. These six districts and Makran coastal strip together have an area of about 32 thousand square kilometers, which is nearly three times the size of the country of Qatar and about nine times the size of the Emirate of Dubai.

Iran's territory, nation and governance system are facing many challenges, some of which have become acute. Sanctions, administrative and organizational corruption, inflation, unbalanced development and inequality, geopolitical tensions and international challenges are some of them. But among various crises, environmental instability and water tensions and ecological hazards are perhaps the most important challenges that threaten even the existence and survival of Iran's civilization. Continuous droughts and climate changes and sanctions policies and the international community's cooperation with the United States' policies against Iran have intensified the effects of environmental risks and water tensions. Self-reliance and industrial and agricultural self-sufficiency policies without absorbing new water optimization technologies and continuing to rely on the traditional agricultural system and the lifestyle of consumer-oriented urbanism and the polar urban system have strengthened Iran's sustainable challenges. In case of lifting the embargo and normalizing the relations with the countries of the world, one of the most important development plans based on land development and the adoption of a maritime strategy is to pay attention and focus on Makran's ocean coasts. The coast of Makran, which includes the cities of Dashtiari, Chabahar, Konarak, Zarabad, Jask and Sirik, is one of the less developed regions of Iran, which has not been used the abundant potentials so far. Geostrategic and strategic capacities, economic and commercial and transit capacities, extraordinary geopolitical and geo-economic position, high potentials of fishing and fishing industry, tourism capacities, the gateway to Eurasia and the connection of Central Asian republics and Afghanistan to the coastal countries of the world and close to major global markets of the Indian subcontinent and East Asia are only part of the talents of this region, which can create extensive employment and entrepreneurship. In the framework of Iran's development program based on the principles of land use planning and Iran's maritime and coastal strategy, the establishment of large urban settlements, the location of oil, gas and refining and petrochemical processing industries and export docks, investment in the fields of tourism and entertainment industries, development Connecting Makran beaches to the rail network, building an international airport city, the establishment of the Chabahar-Bandar Abbas coastal highway, and building large desalination industries are the most important infrastructures needed for development in Makran beaches. In this framework, planning and investing and attracting international funds to activate Makran's capacities can make Makran the gateway to hope and sustainable development of Iran and save Iran from its current state of reduction.

Among the long coasts of Iran, due to its direct access to ocean waters, strategic location and corridor, Makran has a very high capacity and ability for economic, industrial, service, urban and tourism development programs, which can become the gateway and driver of development of Iran. In such a way that the selection and implementation of land use planning and maritime strategy for the development of Makran coasts can not only produce security and development in the southeast of Iran; but also, it can strengthen Iran's position and international relations, generate power, save and revive Iran's civilization, which can be referred to as "the gateway of Iran's hope and development".