Iraq Water Crisis Destroyed Crops and Killed Animals, UN Warns of Regional Impact

As Iraq continues to face the challenges of the water crisis, the United Nations has warned that it could affect other countries in the region.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk paid a four-day visit to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the oil-rich southern city of Basra, and Irbil in the northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Basra, where the two rivers meet, has been severely hit by the water crisis, with regions that were previously fertile becoming deserts and water purifying facilities forced to shut down due to increased salinity.

The UN official underscored that Iraq is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change and that what is happening in the country is a "climate emergency" that has to be addressed, not just for the country but for the world.

"What is happening here is a window into a future that is now coming for other parts of the world - if we continue to fail in our responsibility to take preventive and mitigating action against climate change," Türk said in a press statement.

Toxic mix

Türk blamed the country's climate crisis on a "toxic mix" of global warming and drought, poor water management, violence, and "oil industry excesses."

He spoke of decades of draining marshlands in the country's south, saying restoration would be difficult, especially given the country's high temperatures. He is concerned that this will exacerbate climate displacement and migration.

The government has disclosed that Iraq's water reserves are at their "lowest".

"Current water reserves in Iraq are the lowest in the history of the country, and is 50 percent of last year," Khaled al-Shamali, spokesman of the Iraqi ministry of water resources, said in an interview.

Shamali also said that the amount of water flowing into Iraq through the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is lower than the amount being released by the retention dams on both rivers.

The Mosul dam on the Tigris River receives 275 cubic meters of water per second (mcps) but releases 400 mcps, while the Haditha dam on the Euphrates River releases 200 mcps but only receives a flow of 153 mcps.

The ministry earlier announced that Iraq's water reserves have plummeted to seven billion cubic meters, down from 60 billion cubic meters in 2020.

According to Shamali, the country's water reserves are currently five billion cubic meters.

Crackdown on unauthorized fish farm

The government has implemented a crackdown on the illegal fish farms in the country.

The ministry said almost half of Iraq's estimated 5,000 "unlicensed" fish farms have been closed, although authorities still allow movable fish tanks immersed in waterways.

They justified this action by claiming that they "increase the water surface susceptible to evaporation," cause seepage into the soil, and contribute to "environmental pollution."

The president of the Iraqi Association of Fish Farmers, Ayad al-Talibi, said he accepted the closure of unlicensed ponds but questioned whether the water saved was "properly used."

Iraq used to produce about one million metric tons of fish per year before the May crackdown, but Talibi told national television Al-Ikhbariya that output has now dropped to 190,000 metric tons.

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