2023-07-10 16:20:14
The mythical marshes of Iraq are affected by “the most severe heat wave of the last 40 years”, warned on Monday the local branch of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), also reporting a drastic drop in the water level.
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Considered by the UN as one of the five countries most exposed to certain effects of climate change, Iraq is going through its fourth consecutive year of drought, according to the authorities.
In question: the lack of precipitation, abnormally high temperatures, but above all, according to the government, the dams built upstream by Turkey and Iran. These structures have led downstream to a drastic drop in the flow of rivers in Iraqi territory – directly threatening the marshes classified as World Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
“FAO Iraq is deeply concerned about the serious consequences of climate change and water shortages on marshes (Al-Ahwar) and buffalo herders in southern Iraq,” the UN agency said in a statement.
Citing “alarming field reports” from its team engaged in the marshes alongside the Ministry of Agriculture, the agency indicates that “the marshes are experiencing their most severe heat wave in 40 years”, coupled with “a shortage of ‘sudden water of the Euphrates river’.
Thus, in Chibayich, “the water level of the Euphrates is only 56 centimeters and in the marshes it is between zero and 30 centimeters”, adds the press release which includes data from the FAO team in the field.
“High salinity levels exceeding 6,000 parts per million (ppm) have raised concern among farmers, especially buffalo herders and fishers,” the statement continued.
The text also cites statistics provided by a government agency according to which “nearly 70% of marshes are deprived of water”.
This border region of Iran is famous for marshes irrigated by the Tigris River.
Behind this phenomenon, environmental activists and local officials had pointed to a drastic drop in the water level which results in a high level of salinity and a lack of oxygen.
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