The United Nations urges Iraq’s neighboring countries to help it solve the problem of water shortage

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[size=52]The United Nations urges Iraq’s neighboring countries to help it solve the problem of water shortage...[/size]

[size=45]And the risks of drought and pollution after the crisis worsened due to the construction of dams and the closure of rivers from Iran and Turkey
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Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (United Nations)
01/03/2024
Baghdad: Hamza Mustafa
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, urged the countries of the world, especially Those neighboring Iraq, to ​​help it solve the problem of water shortages and the risks of drought and pollution that it faces. During her speech on the sidelines of the activities of the “Iraq Forum” held in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Plasschaert said: “A radical solution must be found to what the environment is suffering from climate change.”
She added that "countries must help Iraq find a solution to secure its water share and address the shortfall in its revenues," stressing "the necessity of preserving the country's water security." In recent years, the water crisis in Iraq has escalated with the decline in rainfall rates and the decrease in water levels from neighboring countries that supply the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which led to the exacerbation of drought, until Iraq has become the “fifth country in the world” most affected by climate change, according to the United Nations. .
The Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Awni Dhiyab, recently sounded the alarm about the water level during the coming season. He said, in a statement carried by the official news agency in Iraq, that “the ministry after May will face great challenges, represented by rising temperatures and the resulting evaporation of water, in addition to the citizens’ need for consumption,” warning that “this year “It will be difficult, and there are challenges, the most important of which is how to distribute this small amount of water fairly.” The minister added that his ministry had taken measures to confront the crisis, including removing encroachments on unsanctioned river basins and lakes.
In addition, the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee in the Iraqi Parliament announced that it had summoned the Minister of Water Resources to discuss with him his statements and the concerns they represented. Whether at the agricultural level or the climate in general in the country.
While experts called for making use of wastewater in agriculture after treating it, preventing abuses, starting to store rainwater, constructing water harvesting dams, and protecting rivers from medical pollutants, there are official calls, and others from specialists, for the importance of starting a new phase in dealing with wastewater. With water reality, it consists of using modern techniques in agriculture by spraying and dripping. The water crisis in Iraq comes due to both Iran and Turkey constructing dams and closing the rivers that supply Iraq with water, in addition to the drought season that hit the country hard during the last ten years, which left negative effects on its water reserves in the dams built on the rivers.
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, asked the Turkish President last month, during his visit to Turkey, to release an additional share of the Tigris River for Iraq, which led to the announcement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of doubling Iraq’s water share of the Tigris River’s water for a period. Month.
For his part, the Iraqi Minister of Environment, Nizar Muhammad Amidi, announced the launch of two projects that he described as “important”, in cooperation with the World Bank, to reduce the effects of chemical pollution in Iraq, in cooperation with the World Bank, and with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). . The minister said during a conference with the World Bank, “These two projects will represent an important qualitative shift in the file of reducing chemical pollution in Iraq, and they are the highest in terms of support from the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility, bringing the financial support package as a grant to 20 million dollars.” . As for the Prime Minister’s Advisor for Environment and Climate Affairs, Ali Al-Lami, he said during the conference that “the agreement will focus on two important axes: The first is to begin the activities of the national implementation plan for the (Stockholm Convention) on persistent organic pollutants, which Iraq has officially joined, pursuant to Law 45 of 2015. This project will be implemented in coordination with all national partners in the ministries of electricity, agriculture, industry, minerals, and municipalities. He added, “The project activities will focus on the safe environmental disposal of expired and damaged pesticides in some of the Ministry of Agriculture’s warehouses, as well as Escorial oils and transformers contaminated with this oil amounting to 1,300 tons, with full institutional support for all relevant ministries to implement (the Stockholm Agreement), prepare strategies, and update relevant laws and legislation.” Relevance, with the qualification of laboratories to develop the ability to conduct analysis and measurements of persistent organic pollutants.”
He pointed out that “the other project is highly polluted sites in the liberated areas/the second phase, where the ministry will complete, with coordination and support from the World Bank, the first phase, which included an assessment of dozens of highly polluted sites in 6 governorates after their liberation from the terrorist ISIS.”[/size]
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