According to El-Hajj Hassan of the FAO, more than 2,000 families were forced to abandon their homes between last summer and late October as the marshes receded. Some of the displaced have moved to marshes that still have water, while others have abandoned their traditional way of life and moved to cities such as Basra or Baghdad.
Tensions are rising among those who remain in the swamps, with security advisers arguing that the lack of water, and the loss of the swamps in particular, could affect national security. According to Eimear Hennessy, former risk analyst at G4S Consulting, “the thousands of people displaced and impoverished by the ongoing crisis in the Mesopotamian Marshes may be more likely to be recruited by non-state actors” – militias and terrorists Groups – “Promise of an attractive future.”
The recent drying up of the swamps has sparked a collapse in wildlife diversity, with populations of the Binni, a brown-and-gold fish so prized by the Arabs of the swamp, plummeting, according to Iraqi Nature. “Two thousand officially registered fishermen have lost their source of income and are now unemployed,” Saleh Hadi of the Dhi Qar Agriculture Bureau said in October.
Before the drought, the blue duck, which is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, appeared to be thriving in the swamp, as did the endangered Basra reed warbler and the native Iraqi babbler. But as water levels dropped, Nature Iraq said, the birds were seen much less frequently.
Livestock are also suffering. Buffaloes grazing in rivers now struggle to find clean water and enough food; thousands die from disease and malnutrition. “The lower water levels have had a devastating impact on buffalo farmers,” said NRC spokesman Samah Hadid. “The buffalo breeders we’re talking to are getting more and more desperate.”
as outlook As communities in Iraqi marshlands deteriorate, NGOs are promoting actions that could reduce the effects of the drought, including investing in water filtration and treatment systems for areas with high levels of salinity. They are pushing Iraqi authorities to collect more data at the national and regional levels on water flows and the effects of water scarcity, and to improve aquifer regulation to prevent overpumping, which reduces groundwater quantity and quality.
The Iraqi government is providing salt-tolerant wheat to some food farmers; breeders are developing drought-tolerant sugar beets; and academics are advocating for programs that provide conflict management training to communities struggling to get their fair share of water.
For years, Iraq has been negotiating with its upstream neighbor to allow more water to flow across its border, but the situation has not improved. In January 2022, Iraq announced that it would sue Iran in the International Court of Justice for cutting off its water supply channels, but the case has not progressed. Last July, Iraq demanded that Turkey increase the flow of water southward into Iraq. It was agreed that an Iraqi “technical delegation” would visit Turkey to assess the water levels behind Turkish dams, but that Turkey would not be responsible for Iraq’s water shortage. Instead, Ali Riza Güney, Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq, accused Iraqis of “wasting” their water resources and called on the country to reduce water waste and modernize its irrigation systems.
Below-average rainfall is expected for the region in the new year, according to the United Nations World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization. With the impacts of climate change worsening and with no foreseeable improvement in water resource management, the outlook for Iraqi Mesopotamian marshlands and the communities that depend on them looks bleak.
