International report: Climate changes push the residents of the marshes to leave their areas

[size=52]International report: Climate changes push the residents of the marshes to leave their areas[/size]

[size=45]Translation / Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]A report prepared by the Swiss organization, REACH, concerned with providing services to the affected areas in the world, addressed the environmental factors represented by climate change and the lack of rainfall that pushed families from the marshes of Basra, Dhi Qar and Maysan governorates to leave their areas and migrate to city centers in search of job opportunities and livelihood resources. Others after exposing the water bodies to the risk of drought and the death of large numbers of livestock.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicates that the marshes of southern Iraq constitute about half of the country's water areas, and have historically been a vital source of livelihood for the inhabitants of the marshes of the governorates of Basra, Maysan and Dhi Qar. During the nineties of the last century, it was subjected to deliberate draining by the former regime to prevent its use by intruders. Until the beginning of the second millennium, the percentage of the remaining marshes was less than 10% of their natural size.[/size]
[size=45]But despite efforts to restore the marshes in the subsequent years following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the region is also still at risk of complete drought. However, the reasons for the drought this time lie in the accumulation of various factors, including low levels of rainfall in the region and a lack of water levels flowing from Turkey and Iran, in addition to dilapidated infrastructure of old pipes and illegal water withdrawals.[/size]
[size=45]These deteriorating conditions of the marshes had a bad impact on its inhabitants, who depended on them by providing them with financial returns through fishing, agriculture, livestock raising and the handicrafts they produced, building houses from reeds, as well as other economic means of livelihood.[/size]
[size=45]The National Geographic magazine had mentioned in a previous report about cases of migration resulting from the deterioration of the living situation in the marshes. Among the reasons for this displacement is the quality of the water and the increase in diseases caused by water pollution and low water levels, which caused the decline in the fishing process.[/size]
[size=45]The International Organization for Migration recently completed a survey in the city of Basra, where it met migrants from rural areas from nearby governorates in southern Iraq. In its survey, the organization concluded that there were two main motives that forced these families to migrate to the city of Basra, which is the largest city in southern Iraq. 52% of the families mentioned that the reason is the lack of economic opportunities in their areas, and 49% of them indicated the reason for the scarcity of water, followed by 16% due to the death of their livestock, and 13% of them indicated the reasons for the lack of services as one of the motives for migration. The organization indicated that most of the migrants moved to the city with members of their families, and that a few cases were represented by individuals migrating alone.[/size]
[size=45]While these conclusions represent clear indications of the motives behind migration to the city and the challenges facing migrants, it requires conducting other analyzes on how the change in water levels affects the environmental life and livelihood of the people in the marshes of southern Iraq, and then their decision to migrate. While the conditions in the marshes continue to deteriorate, there is little information available about the extent of the migration in those areas and the main incentives that call for the people of the marshes to migrate to the area.[/size]
[size=45]Reach notes in its report that, in cooperation with other partner organizations, a clearer picture will be provided about the causes and volume of migration, which will help in developing programs that keep pace with the climate change process, which is supposed to be a priority of the country's strategic concerns, while providing bases for future programs for climate change situations in southern Iraq, which will serve to bring about positive change for the population residing in affected areas.[/size]
[size=45]The organization indicates that its project will serve the residents of the marshes of Basra, Dhi Qar and Maysan, who depend for their livelihood on what the marshes provide for them in terms of agriculture, livestock, fishing and many other things. Especially the people who migrated from the marshes ten years ago and settled in Basra, as well as those who migrated from the marshes in Dhi Qar and Maysan, with a study of the socio-economic and cultural interdependence of the people of the marshes in their areas in those governorates.[/size]
[size=45]In its report, the organization mentions that it seeks the assistance of notables in rural areas in the marshes, including mayors and municipal officials who have more knowledge of the conditions of the population in the villages and countryside of the marshes, to find solutions to the problems that the population is exposed to, such as climatic changes and the lack of water levels, which is the main motive for their migration. The waves of migration that occurred and the severity of drought rates and the development of appropriate programs to avoid them in the future.[/size]
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