Iran, Turkey foreign ministers discuss tackling water issue

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iranian foreign minister on Tuesday stressed the importance of accelerating cooperation in form of a “Joint Water Committee” to address climate change and ongoing water issues in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian “stressed the importance of resolving the remaining issues … and the need to accelerate bilateral cooperation in the form of a ‘Joint Water Committee’ about the importance of climate and environmental change,” according to a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry.

Iran and Turkey have control over a large portion of water flowing into Iraq. Both governments have over the years built several dams, minimizing Iraq’s main sources of water.

Water levels in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers - shared by Iraq, Syria, and Turkey - have dropped considerably in recent years. In the latest stark warning of the threats a heating climate poses to the country, a report by Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources towards the end of last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq’s two main rivers will be entirely dry by 2040.

Last year, Iraqi Minister of Water Resources Mahdi Rashid al-Hamdani accused Iran of digging tunnels and trying to alter the natural water flows. His ministry in December announced the completion of procedures to file a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice against Iran.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has long warned that the water available in Iraq is set to decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of Iraq’s agriculture and industry. According to another concerning report by the United Nations, dams built in neighboring Turkey and Iran have also dramatically reduced the combined volume of the Tigris and Euphrates by up to 60 percent.

The statement from the Iranian foreign minister comes as his country recently denied being the reason behind Iraq’s water problem, saying that the water crisis is regional and not specific to one country.

Outgoing Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi earlier this week said that Iran has never reduced Iraqi water source, calling on all parties involved in the problem “to initiate consultations instead of being trapped in negative media hypes in order to find ways out of not only water shortage but also dust storms.”

In November, the World Bank warned that Iraq is running out of water, with devastating consequences for the country’s employment and economy, stressing the failure to manage water resources as a key damaging factor. The World Bank’s April update cautioned that further intensified climate change effects and water shortages will decrease agricultural production.

Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity. Low rainfall levels and high temperatures caused by climate change are depleting water supplies across the country. Much of Iraq’s agricultural lands depend on irrigation, but dams and reservoirs were at record-low levels this summer.

Iran, Turkey foreign ministers discuss tackling water issue

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