Iraq launches multimillion dollar project to revive marshlands

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government on Saturday launched a multimillion-dollar project to revive the marshlands in Basra province.

“The two main issues of the marshlands are water scarcity, resulting from drought, and pollution… With such an initiative that we have announced today we can manage that,” Ali Hayajneh, director of water and climate change of the West Asia office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told Rudaw English, stressing the necessity of a “sustainable solution to eliminate the negative impact of drought, the negative impact of mismanagement and misuse of water.”

IUCN is working in cooperation with the Iraqi water ministry to implement the project dubbed “Sustainable Water and Agriculture Management in the Marshes - Iraq.” The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is providing funding.

The announcement was made during the fourth Baghdad International Water Conference that runs from Saturday through Monday with the participation of hundreds of governmental officials, academics, international and local civil organizations, to discuss the pressing issues of climate change, agriculture and water management.

“We talked about the idea of the project during the third conference. Now we are talking about starting the project in the fourth conference… We hope that there are practical steps to implement this very important project,” Iraqi Water Resources Minister Aoun Diab said during a panel announcing the launch.

The 36-month project has a budget of $5 million and aims to eliminate the negative impacts of drought and water scarcity and mismanagement in the marshes, according to Hayajneh.

The World Resources Institute places Iraq among 25 countries that face extreme water stress, meaning that it is using over 80 percent of its available supply of water and is at risk of running out of water in case during any short-term drought.

“As international and governmental institutions we need to restore as much as possible from these unique lands,” Hayajneh said.

Despite the project confined within Basra governorate, the supervisors hope to be able to extend their water preservation initiatives to the other provinces with troubled marshlands.

“At this stage we are committed to the borders of the Basra governorate, then maybe after examining our activity and implementing there, we will extend it to other provinces of Iraq,” Mohammed Abu Safi, deputy director of IUCN’s Agriculture and Water Program, told Rudaw English.

Abu Safi stated that the project “surely does not” end the problems faced by the marshes, however it will “contribute in solving the challenges” that they are suffering from.

Located in southern Iraq, the marshes are home to large numbers of birds and other wildlife. They are also a source of livelihood for their residents, who earn a living by harvesting and selling reeds, raising cattle, and fishing.

The marshlands were subject to a massive drainage campaign by former dictator Saddam Hussein in 1991, who ordered they be drained as punishment for local communities who were protecting insurgents he sought to hunt down.

The marshes were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2016 due to their biodiversity and ancient history.

The United Nations classifies Iraq as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change. Droughts are more frequent and longer. Water reserves have decreased by half since 2022 due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining river levels, according to the water ministry.

The devastating effects of climate change are exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian dams upstream on shared rivers, cutting Iraq off from much-needed water relief.

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