'Our whole life depends on water': Climate change, pollution and dams threaten Iraq’s Marsh Arabs
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
February 07, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2023
'Our whole life depends on water': Climate change, pollution and dams threaten Iraq’s Marsh Arabs

Middle East

Reuters
14 October, 2021, 03:15 pm
Last modified: 14 October, 2021, 03:19 pm

Related News

  • Biden reaffirms US support for Jordan, Iraq in meeting, phone call
  • Eight rockets fired at Turkish base in Iraq - Kurdish security group
  • Water ATM booth: A low-cost solution to Dhaka's drinking water crisis
  • Eating one wild fish same as month of drinking tainted water: study
  • At least eight police officers killed in blast near northern Iraqi city

'Our whole life depends on water': Climate change, pollution and dams threaten Iraq’s Marsh Arabs

After his overthrow in 2003, the marshes were partly reflooded and many Marsh Arabs returned, including Baher's family

Reuters
14 October, 2021, 03:15 pm
Last modified: 14 October, 2021, 03:19 pm
Buffaloes are seen in the Chebayesh marsh, Dhi Qar province, Iraq, July 7, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. Photo :Reuters
Buffaloes are seen in the Chebayesh marsh, Dhi Qar province, Iraq, July 7, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. Photo :Reuters

On an island surrounded by the narrow waterways of the Chebayesh Marshes in southern Iraq, Sabah Thamer al-Baher rises with the sun to milk his herd of water buffalo.

This summer has been tough for Baher, a father of two. Iraq's 2020-2021 rainfall season was the second driest in 40 years, according to the United Nations, causing the salinity of the wetlands to rise to dangerous levels.

Animals fell sick and died, and Baher was forced to buy fresh drinking water for his own herd of around 20 buffaloes, his only source of income.

Another drought is predicted for 2023 as climate change, pollution and upstream damming keep Iraq trapped in a cycle of recurring water crises.

"The marshes are our life. If droughts persist, we will stop to exist, because our whole life depends on water and raising water buffaloes," said 37-year-old Baher.

Baher and his family are Marsh Arabs, the wetlands' indigenous population that was displaced in the 1990s when Saddam Hussein dammed and drained the marshes to flush out rebels hiding in the reeds.

After his overthrow in 2003, the marshes were partly reflooded and many Marsh Arabs returned, including Baher's family.

However, conditions have pushed the wetlands' fragile ecosystem off balance, endangering biodiversity and livelihoods, said Jassim al-Asadi, an environmentalist born in the marshes.

"The less water, the saltier it is," Christophe Chauveau, a French veterinarian who surveyed the marshes for Agronomists and Veterinarians Without Borders said, adding that buffalos drink less and produce less milk when the water quality drops.

According to the Max Planck Institute, the temperature rise in the Middle East during summer has been more than 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade - about twice as high as the global average.

Iraq's neighbours are also suffering from droughts and rising temperatures, which has led to regional water disputes. The water ministry said earlier this year that water flows from Iran and Turkey were reduced by 50 percent throughout the summer.

PRIORITIES

Then there is the matter of pollution coming from upstream. In 2019, the government said that 5 million cubic metres a day of raw sewage water were being pumped directly into the Tigris, one of the rivers that feed Iraq's marshes.

Environmentalist Azzam Alwash said there was an urgent need for Iraq to commit to a long-term water management strategy as its fast-growing population of nearly 40 million is estimated to double by 2050.

Aoun Dhiab, spokesperson for the water ministry, said the government's strategy was to preserve the deeper, permanent water bodies of the marshes across a minimum of 2,800 square kilometres (1080 square miles).

"This is what we are planning, to preserve the permanent water bodies to protect the ecological resources and fish stock," he said.

Dhiab said water levels in the marshes had partially improved since the summer, with less evaporation due to falling temperatures and that the wetlands shrink and expand naturally depending on the season.

He also said the government could not allocate more water to the marshes when there were shortages of drinking water in summer.

"Of course people in the marshes want more water, but we need to prioritise. The priority goes to drinking water, to the municipalities and to preserving the Shatt al-Arab river," he said.

Drought and pollution of the Shatt al-Arab river caused a crisis in southern Iraq in 2018, when thousands were hospitalised with water-borne diseases.

The consequences are nonetheless punishing for the Marsh Arabs. With his youngest daughter nestled in his arms and drinking buffalo milk out of her feeder, Baher watches his nephews tend to a sick buffalo.

 In summer, some of Baher's relatives moved their herds altogether to deeper parts of the marshes, where salinity levels were lower, but fighting over the best spots as families were forced to share shrinking spaces.

Estimates on the marshes' current population vary widely. Once 400,000 in the 1950s, around 250,000 people returned when the marshes were reflooded.

While diminishing water supplies pushed farmers this year to move to the cities, where a lack of jobs and services have led to protests in the past, Baher, like many other young herders, hopes that he will be able to remain here.

"I felt like a stranger in the city," he said, remembering when the marshes were drained. "When the water came back to the marshes, we regained our freedom."

Arab / Iraq / Water

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A man stands in front of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 6, 2023. Ihlas News Agency (IHA) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. TURKEY OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN TURKEY.
    Deaths exceed 2,600 as catastrophic quakes ravage Turkey, Syria
  • 30% cos see double-digit growth even in hard times
    30% cos see double-digit growth even in hard times
  • Govt borrowing from commercial banks surges
    Govt borrowing from commercial banks surges

MOST VIEWED

  • A civil defence vehicle is seen near rubble, following an earthquake, in Aleppo, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 6, 2023. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
    Russia says 300 army personnel clearing debris in Syria
  • Syria hospital treating earthquake victims pleads for help
    Syria hospital treating earthquake victims pleads for help
  • A civil defence vehicle is seen near rubble, following an earthquake, in Aleppo, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 6, 2023. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
    Earthquake piles misery on war-ravaged Syrians in wintry north
  • Israelis hold flags as they protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new right-wing coalition and its proposed judicial reforms to reduce powers of the Supreme Court in Tel Aviv, Israel February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
    Tens of thousands of Israelis protest against justice reform plans
  • The United Nations headquarters building is pictured with a UN logo in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
    UN urges end to 'illogic of escalation' between Israel, Palestinians
  • Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi attend the opening of the IAEA General Conference at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, September 26, 2022. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
    US, allies say IAEA report shows Iran inconsistent in meeting nuclear obligations

Related News

  • Biden reaffirms US support for Jordan, Iraq in meeting, phone call
  • Eight rockets fired at Turkish base in Iraq - Kurdish security group
  • Water ATM booth: A low-cost solution to Dhaka's drinking water crisis
  • Eating one wild fish same as month of drinking tainted water: study
  • At least eight police officers killed in blast near northern Iraqi city

Features

Photo: Collected

Get your partner a lovely present this Valentine's Day

19h | Brands
Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

18h | Brands
Say it with Colours

Say it with Colours

1d | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Who will survive? Adani or Hindenburg?

Who will survive? Adani or Hindenburg?

9h | TBS Stories
James Gunn’s 8-10-year plan for the DC Universe

James Gunn’s 8-10-year plan for the DC Universe

9h | TBS Entertainment
LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment

LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment

13h | TBS Insight
Stage plays are going on in the digital age

Stage plays are going on in the digital age

17h | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

3
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

6
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net