hello, this is bbc news with me, ben boulos. the headlines — russian cruise missiles strike the ukrainian capital, kyiv, causing large explosions. one person is killed. on the first day of the g7 summit in germany, a commitment to mobilise $600 billion for global infrastructure programmes in developing countries by 2027. the prince of wales accepted a suitcase containing a million euros in cash from a former qatari prime minister, according to the sunday times. there is no suggestion the payments were illegal. and at least 21 people are reported dead at a nightclub in the south african city of east london. now on bbc news, it's time for our world.

injuly 2021, anti—government protests took place across iran. the protests were triggered by water shortages in the southern province of khuzestan. failing crops, dying wildlife, no drinking water. dry rivers. people in khuzestan face a water crisis. i'm siavash ardalan, and i report on the environment for bbc persian. seeing people suffering, i wanted to understand what caused these water shortages. is it climate change or are there other factors? what is happening in iran today is the outcome of decades of bad management, poor environmental governance and a lack of foresight, not climate change.

the bbc cannot operate freely inside iran, so i've pieced the story together using social media and visited the united states to see how they manage their water. wow, this is amazing! look how much the water has gone down. as iran and the rest of the world tackle water scarcity, i'll be asking — what can be done to improve the water supply for people in khuzestan? khuzestan has long been thought of as lush and green, with wetlands and diverse wildlife. its rivers used for leisure and agriculture. but over the last decades, that has changed. today, rivers are dirty or run dry. the great horolazim wetland has been drained for oil extraction. the environment and

communities destroyed. iran's students�* news agency reports show that in villages across khuzestan, water is scarce. to understand these people's anger, we need to look at the rivers feeding the area and the many demands made on them. this is khuzestan, lying on the south—west of iran. it's a coastal province on the border with iraq. iran's longest and most well—known river, the karun river, originates in the zagros mountain on the eastern side of khuzestan. there are four more rivers that also

originate outside khuzestan�*s official borders that flow into the province, making khuzestan one of the most water—abundant provinces in iran, supplying its industry, agriculture and drinking water. but for many years, farmers have protested that water simply does not reach them, their villages and their crops. shouting. these protests have largely been peaceful and contained to farming areas. but injuly 2021, that changed. chanting. screaming and shouting. chanting. protests began in a few cities in khuzestan and spread first across the province and then

to the rest of the country. i tracked events through social media, and saw the rising tide of anger in the crowds as protesters brought in other issues like unemployment, poverty and politicalfreedoms. the government viewed the situation as a security issue and cracked down. the protests lasted ten days. eight people were killed. chanting. this woman is a human rights lawyer defending a number of protesters who were charged with disrupting public order. during our conversation, she told me more about who the protesters were.

security sent in by the state silenced the protesters. but a fundamental question remained — what has gone wrong with the water supply? my search for answers began at the un climate change conference in glasgow. glasgow is a long way away from khuzestan and its problems, but the water crisis is really being discussed here because it affects all regions like khuzestan.

the head of iran's delegation addressed the conference. the government of islamic republic of iran is committed, alongside with other nations, to combat climate change and global warming. thank you very much for doing this interview... and later, he agreed to an interview with my bbc colleague, matt mcgrath.

you say that climate change has impacted the issue of water, but in khuzestan and elsewhere, is itjust climate change or is it the management of the water issue? has that caused the problems to be worse there? so, the iranian governments say that water shortages have been caused by climate change. but critics say that climate change has exacerbated years of water mismanagement that has damaged the delicate balance of supply and demand.

when we look at the sources of the rivers that flow into khuzestan, the first thing we find is a network of canals, pipelines and tunnels that take the water to other provinces like kerman, isfahan, yazd, and as far away as qom. protests in january this year were a result of tensions over these water transfers. chanting. two provinces east of khuzestan were protesting over who takes how much water. after the water transfers, the rest of the water that flows into khuzestan is captured by a number of dams. 0n karun river alone, there is one, two, three, four, five dams built, one after another, and more dams on khuzestan�*s other rivers. in fact, iranian authorities have broken records over the numbers of dams they have built — close to 650 dams in

a span of a0 years. with so many dams controlling the supply of water, why do water shortages persist, both in khuzestan and right across iran? las vegas is one of the fastest growing cities in the us, with each household using 1000 litres of water a day. and yet... when you're in las vegas, it's easy to forget that this is a town built in the middle of the desert. the landscape here reminds me of when i used to live in iran. iran is essentially a dry country, so this barren land, for me, is a reminder of home. and that's why i'm here. both the south—west of the united states and khuzestan are dry

and make heavy demands on their river water. so, what's happening here can tell me something about khuzestan. i'm heading to the hoover dam, 60 kilometres north of las vegas, which depends on its water supply. construction of this mighty piece of engineering began in 1931. explosion. the idea behind it was to regulate water supply and also to generate electricity. the same idea behind building this dam was also applied to building dams in khuzestan and other developing regions of the world. this is kaveh madani in tehran, promoting awareness

about how water is used. there is finally a global consensus about the need to act strongly to mitigate climate change and to... at the time, he was deputy head of iran's environmental protection agency. following pressure from the intelligence services, he feared for his safety and fled iran. kaveh argues that politics has driven dam—building in iran, while human and environmental concerns, like submerging villages and animal habitats, get sidelined. and far from solving water supply problems, he sees dams and the reservoirs they create as the fix that backfires. when you build a reservoir, you also create some demand downstream. now, everyone downstream is looking at the water that has been stored, everyone has a plan for it. someone wants to use it in the agriculture, some people want to develop cities below reservoirs. so, and industries keep growing

and your water demand keeps increasing and water shortage keeps getting bigger and bigger. from the hoover dam, the demands downstream can't be seen. but what is plain to see is the supply problem at source. wow, this is amazing. look how much the water has gone down. you can clearly see those water marks. officially, they're saying that the water capacity is only 38%. in both the south—west us and khuzestan, there's less rain and snowfall, and the reservoirs are running low. i put it to kaveh that surely climate change is key to water shortages everywhere, including iran. what is happening in iran today is the outcome of decades of bad management, poor environmental governance and a lack of foresight, not climate change. did climate change have a role?

yes, to an extent, as a catalyst. but the iranians didn't consider water as a limit to growth, and they continue developing and developing, thinking that with money and engineering, they can overcome the natural limitations. singing. # there was a river, gather us together...# this musician is from khuzestan. for years, he has used social media to post songs in english and persian about water. singing. in this video, he explores the karun river.

industry, agriculture, even hospital waste is dumped into the karun. for people in urban areas, sewage and sanitation are bigger water issues than supply alone. although official figures have never been released, according to unofficial estimates, a large portion of khuzestan�*s population is arab, and many of them blame poor water infrastructure on a long history of central government discrimination against the region. sitting on the border of iraq, people in khuzestan also felt the full force of the iran—iraq war in the 1980s.

he shows his followers what the lack of water infrastructure means for people in their homes. he says the water from the main tap is only for washing, not cooking or drinking. waterfilters, tanks, water pumps — it all sounds very benign, but this is a daily reality

in the lives of the people who live in the towns and cities of khuzestan. just a few miles from the centre of ahvaz is farmland. the farmers who protest that there is not enough water for their crops are part of an agricultural system that in fact takes the lion's share. globally, irrigated agriculture accounts for 70% of water consumption. but in iran, that figure rises to a staggering 90%.

agriculture enjoys considerable protection from government because it is a key driver of a long—held policy. after the 1979 revolution, food self—sufficiency became one of the most important slogans of the state. us sanctions further drive commitment to this goal.

but many experts doubt this is achievable given iran's current level of development. one of the most important crops in the drive for self—sufficiency is sugar. in the 1990s, the government planted commercial—scale sugar farms across khuzestan. today, the province provides close to half of all the sugar grown across the country. but sugarcane is one of the most water—intensive crops in the world. every year in khuzestan, up to 3.5 billion litres of precious water are released from the dams to grow sugarcane, more than any other crop in khuzestan. this drain on water supplies was forewarned by many, including in parliament 18 years ago.

now retired in ahvaz, ghasem shadidzadeh remains frustrated that the government is wedded to sugarcane rather than alternative crops that need less water. but rather than reducing water demand, the iranian government is more focused on increasing water supply. one source of water iran has turned to is the sea.

iran is investing billions of dollars in an ambitious infrastructure project called the hope line. the intention is to provide and transfer desalinated water across the whole country. kaveh madani believes that local desalination projects have potential benefits, but transferring large volumes of desalinated water across the country is not sustainable. why would you use water to grow rice in central iran and then desalinate water and transfer water to the dry locations? it doesn't make sense. the people of khuzestan who face another year of unpredictable rainfall have made it clear — they want action from the government.

the head of the environment protection agency says they are ready to act. iran has managed its water supply sustainably for centuries, and the expertise to do so still exists today. but critics say this expertise is ignored.

critics and the government agree is that solving khuzestan�*s water crisis is complicated. addressing the needs of people here while coping with the impact of climate change will be a formidable challenge.

hello there. with low pressure dominating our weather, it is looking fairly unsettled as we move through the week ahead. if we take a look at the pressure chart, you can see the area of low pressure that was with us through the weekend has cleared away. the next area, though, hot on its heels, moving in from the west, bringing some wet weather and some fairly blustery conditions as well. so what can we expect this week? well, we do have some rain and showers in the forecast, particularly in the north and west. not a total wash—out. some brightness and sunshine, particularly in the south and east. it will be breezy at times with temperatures around average for the time of year. so we start off by looking at monday, you can see we have this band of showery rain that gradually works its way eastwards as we move through the day. if you catch one of those showers, they could be heavy, possibly thundery. drier conditions feeding in behind. it will turn cloudier across northern ireland with some

a maximum of 21 degrees celsius. and it will be a blustery day again. we have a south—south westerly wind across the board. the winds not quite as strong as they were on sunday. wimbledon�*s kicking off on monday. there is the chance we could see one or two showers. but as the day wears on, becoming drier with some prolonged spells of sunshine and temperatures in the low 20s. so, we saw that cloud and rain moving into northern ireland. as we move into tuesday, that area of low pressure bringing that wet weather gradually pushes its way eastwards. it doesn't make a great deal of progress. so again, for tuesday, we're looking at a fairly soggy picture in the north and west. showers following on behind, but some sunny spells. drier ahead of it, but cloudier as we move into the afternoon, the best of the brightness to be found in the south and east, a maximum here of 23 degrees celsius. as we move into wednesday, that weather front and area of low pressure work their way towards the east. so, wednesday, broadly speaking, is a day of sunny spells and showers, lighter winds than we'll see on tuesday.

if you catch one of those showers, they do have the potential to be heavy again, perhaps with the odd rumble of thunder too. the temperatures again generally in the mid to high teens, a maximum of 2a degrees celsius, though, for parts of east anglia. as we move into thursday, we have the potential for an area of rain to move up in the south and east, some uncertainty with that. but if we do see a spell of wet weather in the south and east, that should clear away fairly quickly to leave a largely dry day with some sunshine. but again, the north of the uk seeing some unsettled weather, some rain and showers. temperatures 17 in aberdeen, 16 in belfast. as we move into friday, low pressure tending to pull away. we start to see signs of high pressure building in. so friday is looking like a fairly settled day. i think we'll see a mixture of sunny spells and showers. those showers fairly scattered and the temperatures fairly similar to what we'll see through much of the week, a maximum of around 21 degrees celsius.

but generally sitting in the high teens, low 20s. if we take a look further ahead, it looks like there's a trend towards high pressure taking charge. so a more settled picture to come, particularly further south. that being said, though, it does look like into the weekend and the start of next week, whilst it will be more settled and warmer in the south, there is the potentialfor some more unsettled weather further north with further rain and showers to come. so, it is an unsettled picture as we move through the week ahead. bye— bye.

tonight at ten — pledges of support and calls for unity on ukraine, as russia steps up attacks. the g7 group of leaders have gathered in germany as the war enters a fifth month — and impacts economies and food prices. you've got to have really, really honest discussions about the implications of what's

going on, the pleasures that individual friends and partners are feeling.