Challenges of the Legal Strategy put in place for the Restoration of Lake Urmia

The drought in Lake Urmia has now lasted for decades. At first glance, it seems like the management of this lake should be considered as an example of "bad" management in the public domain, in other words a type of management which has not benefited from enlightened, critical and scientific thinking. It may also be claimed, those managing Lake Urmia either did not think about the future, showed biasness towards strategies, which would have helped them, or politicized the problem. Using the descriptive-analytic research method, this paper tries to provide a satisfactory legal response to this central question: what barriers and legal constraints have halted the restoration of Lake Urmia? This research concludes that the main barriers and legal constraints come from the governing bodies, and the views and actions of the triple powers in Iran: legislature, executive (government), and judicial. Furthermore, the fact that the private sector does not show the ability or willingness to cooperate with the government to revive the lake is also largely influential. This paper discovers that effective environmental principles have not been addressed by the governing bodies. These issues clearly illustrate why the restoration of Lake Urmia has failed. If one wishes to liken this lake to a living creature, it would be fitting to say, Lake Urmia has gone into a “coma”.