ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government is looking to desalination of seawater as a measure to combat water scarcity as declining water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers spark concern across the country, the prime minister said on Saturday. “The government worked to form a higher council for water, and it is determined to head to the desalination of seawater,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said during the Third Baghdad International Water Conference. “Water scarcity is a threat to the culture and civilization of Iraq, and a threat to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, around which the most important civilizations of the world were built,” Sudani added. Iraq is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the United Nations. It is facing a severe water shortage because of reduced precipitation and higher temperatures, and waste and mismanagement. The crisis is worsened by dams upstream in Turkey and Iran that have led to a significant decrease in the volume of water entering the country. A visit by Sudani to Turkey in March saw measurable success after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to double the water releases in the Tigris River for a period of one month, saying the decision was made “in order to relieve Iraq’s distress.” “The government has set the water file as one of its priorities, and has taken many policies. And it was necessary to identify the problems with upstream countries so our meetings with the countries emphasized the need to give the full share of water,” Sudani said. During the conference, Sudani also pleaded for “the efforts of all friends” of the international community to “urgently” assist Iraq counter water insecurity. In one of the latest stark warnings of the threats a heating climate poses to Iraq, a report by the Ministry of Water Resources late 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. Much of Iraq’s agricultural lands depend on irrigation, but dams and reservoirs were at record-low levels last summer. The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has long warned that water availability in Iraq will decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of agriculture and industry sectors. “The next agricultural plans will be limited to farmers who use modern irrigation methods,” Sudani said at the conference.
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