Workshop objectives
To understand what are the driving forces behind the rapid lake level changes. To demonstrate that lakes are amplifiers of climate change and that they should be used as alarm bells of regional dramatic changes. To establish how environmental changes have affected humans, how they responded and how they recovered if they did, by studying the past. To foster research on fast lake level changes based with strong chronological controls. To present the end users with a larger and more complete picture of possible future changes by highlighting how fast lakes have changed in any region. This will help in preparing better mitigating measures. Impact on population around the lakes now and in the historical/archaeological past, e.g. the more humid Sassanid period, and the Gorgan wall built to stop invasions from the north, now partially below water Ecological and environmental impacts of the lake level changes, e.g. on caviar fisheries.