Rising Temperatures in Iraq
PBS NewsHour Weekend | 9min
Postproduction Script
Simona Foltyn: Sunrise in Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes. These historic wetlands
are nestled in southern Iraq, where human civilization emerged 7,000 years
ago.
But water scarcity is threatening
this habitat and the humans who rely on it.
Jassem Ali, Fisherman: There’s no water. And if there’s no water, there’s no more fish.
There’s only bare land left. The water has dried.
Simona Foltyn: In this area, average annual rainfall for the last twenty years
was 10 percent lower than in the three decades prior.
Declining water levels means the
water that is left is increasingly salty , making
it largely unfit for humans, animals and vegetation alike. Only
small fish survive here now, but they fetch a lower price for the fishermen.
Their catch earned them $15 dollars each, the result of two days of hard work.
Hassoun Daoud, Fisherman: Of course this is not enough. I have a
family that depends on me. But this is our life now.
Jassem Ali, Fisherman: I have four children sitting at home. Two are married and two
aren’t.
Simona Foltyn: I ask Jassem Ali if he’s thinking about leaving fishing to find
work elsewhere.
“And do what?” he asks in return.
It’s a question that weighs on many
people’s minds here, explains Jassem Al Assadi, a
water engineer who has dedicated his life to protecting the marshes.
Jassem Al Assadi,
Nature Iraq: Chibayish and other towns depend on the water economic activities, buffalo
breeders, harvesting the reeds, grasses. If there’s no water, everything is
dead. The economic life is dead completely here.
Simona Foltyn: Drought has further compounded another, long-standing water
problem here.
The marshes are fed by the Tigris and
the Euphrates rivers, both of which originate in Turkey, as well as other
tributaries from Iran. Both countries have built dams upstream, which has
gradually reduced water flow.
The dams have long been a source of
regional tensions, but climate change has further raised the
stakes.
Jassem Al Assadi,
Nature Iraq: If there’s rain, this is a good basin to save this water for a few months. But
there’s no rain here, no rain in the basin of Iraq.
Simona Foltyn: The marshes only span 2,000 square miles today, a 75 percent
reduction compared to their original size.
This is what the marshlands
increasingly look like – cracked soil, and bone dry
reeds. And even though we’re now in November, which is supposed to be the onset
of the rainy season, water levels continue to decline. Life here is simply no
longer sustainable.
More than half the households here
have lost cattle this year due to lack of water, according to a survey carried
out by the Norwegian Refugee Council. Dhuhriya Saquir and her family used to keep 20 water buffalos, but
that number has dropped to four over the past few years. Their animals refuse
to drink the polluted water, which means herders like Dhuriya
are forced to buy drinking water to keep them alive.
Dhuhriya Saquir, buffalo herder: Taking care of the buffalos is really making us tired. They are
not coming back to us. We go looking for them, but even the boat cannot float
after them anymore because there’s no water. Then we find them dead, stuck in
the mud.
Simona Foltyn: Temperatures in Iraq have risen by more than 2.5 degrees Celsius
since the end of the nineteenth century. That’s 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit, double
the global average. Projections are equally alarming. says the World
Bank’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ramzi Neman.
Ramzi Neman, Special Representative
in Iraq, World Bank: We
expected that an increase in temperature of almost 1.5 degrees within the
coming years and that would have a tremendous effect .
Simona Foltyn: But while Iraq is reeling from the impact of climate change, it is
also a significant contributor to the greenhouse emissions that cause global
warming. Iraq is the world’s sixth largest oil producer, but is second only to
Russia in gas flaring, a wasteful process of
burning natural gas during oil extraction. Flaring emits CO2 and methane into
the atmosphere, and accounts for 15 percent of Iraq’s total greenhouse
emissions.
The government has vowed to eliminate
flaring by 2027. At a recent roundtable with journalists, Iraq’s oil minister
said the country has allocated over five billion U.S. dollars for gas capture
projects.
Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail, Iraq Oil
Minister: We will secure the
finance to make all the gas capturing for all Iraq. We will secure the finance
to improve the refinery. We will secure the finance to change the liquid fuel
in all power generation to be gas fuel.
Simona Foltyn: And all of this without any international support?
Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail: And all of this without the need for international support. If we
are requested to do more, we are happy to receive. And we know, no one will
give.
Simona Foltyn: Indeed, at the recent COP26 summit, developed nations failed to
meet financing targets for climate mitigation and adaptation programs.
But Iraq’s promises to end gas
flaring have also not translated into commensurate commitments to reduce its
carbon emissions.
Iraq only pledged to reduce its
emissions by two percent through national efforts, even though climate experts
estimate that global emissions need to be cut by half by the end of this decade
to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius.
Ramzi Neman, Special Representative
in Iraq, World Bank: These
commitments are a bit shy. Iraq is a middle income
country and I think that that they have resources that are generated that could
be enough in really guiding the process forward.
Simona Foltyn: For Iraq’s farmers, time is running out. Record-low rain
falls over the past two years have resulted in widespread crop losses across
Iraq, according to aid agencies.
Muhsin Al Rudaini
is one of many farmers forced to abandon their fields due to the drought.
Muhsin Al Rudaini,
Farmer: During the 70s and 80s, this
land was irrigated by the river flooding the land. Then gradually, we had to
start using pumps. Last year, the water levels really dropped and this year,
there’s no water at all.
Simona Foltyn: Outdated irrigation methods compound the water scarcity. Farmers
today rely on the same inefficient surface irrigation techniques used by
ancient Sumerians four thousand years ago.
Experts say Iraq urgently needs
investments to modernize irrigation. But corruption and mismanagement are
deeply entrenched in Iraq’s bureaucracy, wasting oil money that could be used
for climate adaptation programs.
Entire farming communities have
disappeared, sending ripple effects through Iraq’s food supply chain.
Muhsin Al Rudaini,
Farmer: This used to be the breadbasket of
Baghdad. We used to collect the crops in the morning
and they’d reach Baghdad after an hour or two.
Simona Foltyn: But now, much of the produce sold here is imported from
neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, Al Rudaini
and his son have had little choice but to swap their fields for jobs at a
nearby brick factory, where the air is thick with pollutants.
Munthir Muhsin Al Rudaini, Factory Worker: Normally, no man would accept this kind of work, because it
makes you sick and it is tiring. It’s too hot. You see the smoke? It means
disease. What to do, what is the alternative? There’s nothing but this work.
Simona Foltyn: Crop failures are accelerating rural-to-urban migration.
But already, Iraq’s cities are suffering from widespread unemployment and
inadequate infrastructure. Iraq’s population hit 40 million in 2020 and is
expected to reach 50 million by 2030, with most of the growth concentrated in
urban areas.
Ramzi Neman, Special Representative
in Iraq, World Bank: Any
kind of forced migration creates a problem. So how about talking about cities
that are accommodating a huge number of incomers without the basic services
that need to exist.
Simona Foltyn: The consequences for Iraq could be dire.
Ramzi Neman, Special Representative
in Iraq, World Bank: These
are elements that lead to social destabilization. And this country has enough
drivers of fragility that we cannot add more to that if this is not being looked
at carefully, that’s something that could lead into conflict.
Simona Foltyn: In Iraq, the effects of climate change have become
impossible to ignore. Its case offers a stern warning and a glimpse into what
the future might hold for the rest of the world, should policy makers and the
private sector fail to take steps to cut emissions.
#####
|
TIMECODE |
LOWER
THIRD |
1 |
0:22 |
JASSEM ALI FISHERMAN |
2 |
0:57 |
HASSOUN DAOUD FISHERMAN |
3 |
1:31 |
[SUBTITLE] CHIBAYISH AND OTHER TOWNS DEPEND ON THE WATER ECONOMIC
ACTIVITIES, |
4 |
1:36 |
[SUBTITLE CONTD] BUFFALO BREEDERS, HARVESTING THE REEDS, THE GRASSES, |
5 |
1:41 |
[SUBTITLE CONTD] IF THERE’S NO WATER, EVERYTHING IS DEAD. THE ECONOMIC LIFE IS DEAD COMPLETELY HERE. |
6 |
2:13 |
[SUBTITLE] IF THERE’S RAIN, THIS IS A GOOD BASIN TO SAVE THIS WATER
FOR A FEW MONTHS. |
7 |
2:21 |
[SUBTITLE CONTD] BUT THERE’S NO RAIN HERE, NO RAIN IN THE BASIN OF IRAQ. |
8 |
2:34 |
CHIBAYISH, SOUTHERN IRAQ SIMONA FOLTYN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
9 |
2:37 |
CHIBAYISH, SOUTHERN IRAQ SIMONA FOLTYN @SIMONAFOLTYN |
10 |
3:23 |
DHUHRIYA SAQUIR BUFFALO HERDER |
11 |
4:57 |
IHSAN ABDUL JABBAR ISMAIL IRAQ OIL MINISTER |
12 |
5:39 |
RAMZI NEMAN SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN IRAQ, WORLD BANK |
13 |
6:08 |
MUHSIN AL RUDAINI FARMER |
14 |
7:25 |
MUNTHIR MUHSIN AL RUDAINI FACTORY WORKER |
15 |
8:02 |
RAMZI NEMAN SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN IRAQ, WORLD BANK |