Desertification engulfs Iraq’s arable land

Iraq is projected to be one of the countries most affected by drought and desertification, as its land degradation is increasing annually on a large scale due to dust storms, lack of rain, shortage of inbound water flow on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and sand movement by wind.

Desertification affects 39 percent of Iraq's land right now, while the water deficit is expected to reach 10.8 billion cubic meters by 2035, according to studies conducted by the Ministry of Water Resources, due to a decline in the levels of water flows to the rivers, evaporation in the waters of dams, and the failure to modernize irrigation methods, said Iraqi President Barham Salih in his speech on World Environment Day on June 5.

It was also revealed by a member of the Iraqi Parliamentary Agriculture and Water Committee on June 4 that a total of 100,000 dunums (100 million square meters) of Iraq’s arable land turns into desert annually, amid the absence of a solution by the government. 

“There is a report issued by the United Nations, which shows that Iraq annually loses 100,000 dunums of its agricultural land due to desertification […] the issue of desertification has no real treatments so far,” committee member MP Ali Al-Budairi said in special comments to the state-owned news agency INA.

That is not the all, but the rate of desertification in irrigated lands reached 71 percent, according to INA, leading to internal displacement. Farmers in Al-Diwaniyah governorate, for instance, deserted their lands due to drought, which affected some crops like wheat, the production of which recorded zero, Iraq 24 reported on June 9.

Furthermore, desertification is one of the reasons for the spread of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in animals, which has infected hundreds of people since the beginning of this year, as was stated by the director of the veterinary hospital in Babylon, Ahmed Fadel Farhoudin, in comments to Earth News on June 5.

The number of CCHF infection cases reached 212 cases in the period between January 1 and May 22, according to data from the World Health Organization. “Cases have been reported in several areas (governorates) in Iraq, and the outbreak may pose additional pressure to an already over-stretched health care system,” WHO said on June 1.

In an attempt to mitigate the crisis, the Central Bank of Iraq announced on Thursday that the bank has allocated IQD 17 trillion for initiatives combating climate change, desertification, and water shortage. The decision came nine days after the Iraqi parliament also passed an urgent law on June 8 on food security, allocating an amount of money to fight desertification. 

Also, a campaign was launched on June 4 to plant 10,000 trees as a first stage to face desertification. Moreover, the government is considering diverting its attention to a solution of desalinating sea water in the Arabian Gulf as a solution, which has been adopted by Egypt and a number of Gulf countries, said Aoun Diab, spokesman for the Ministry of Water Resources, in comments to INA on May 6.

However, the United Nations estimated that drought could affect billions of people, as it is expected that droughts may affect an estimated 75 percent of the world’s population by 2050, said the United Nations Convention for Combating Desertification (UNCCD) on Friday, June 17, on the occasion of the 2022 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

“Recent droughts point at a precarious future for the world. Food and water shortages as well as wildfires caused by the severe drought have all intensified in recent years,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary.