Located in south-eastern Iraq and fed by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the Mesopotamian Marshes are experiencing one of the world’s worst cases of increased desertification because of the climate crisis.
Being of one the world’s largest inland delta systems that are teeming with wildlife and rich cultural heritage, the Mesopotamian Marshes have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2016. It is also home to thousands of Iraqis, known as the Madan or “the Marsh Arabs”, who have lived there for over 5,000 years.
Despite its significance, the Mesopotamian Marshes have suffered degradation since the 1950s, which peaked in the 1990s when Saddam Hussein drained it out to repress rebels hiding there. While Iraq has made some attempts to restore the region since the fall of Saddam, the recovery has been uneven and limited due to a combination of droughts and development.
In 2019, Iraqi scientists said that due to rising temperatures and declining rainfall between 1981-2016, the marshes’ water bodies were degrading and vast areas of natural vegetation were disappearing. Iraq has since endured three consecutive years of droughts, and dams in neighbouring countries are impacting the Tigris’ and Euphrates’ water levels. The crisis is such that Iraq’s water ministry warns that its rivers could dry up by 2040.
And with a growing number of the Madan being forced to leave because of how the #droughts are impacting their livelihood, the Mesopotamian Marshes’ decline has created countless environmental migrants and internally displaced peoples.
