Charlotte Bruneau, Thaier Al Sudani

CHEBAYESH MARSHES (Iraq) – Sabah Thamer al-Baher, a water buffalo farmer, rises from the Chebayesh marshes to milk his water buffalo.

Baher, father of two has had a difficult summer. According to United Nations data, the 2020-2021 rain season in Iraq was the second-driest since 40 years. This caused the danger of salinity rising to dangerous levels.

Baher lost his income when his animals became sick. He was forced to get fresh water for the 20 buffaloes he had.

A new drought is expected for 2023, as upstream damming and pollution continue to trap Iraq in a cycle that results in repeated water crises.

The marshes are where we live. “If droughts are persistent, we will not be able to survive, since our whole existence depends upon water and raising water buffaloes,” declared Baher, 37 years old.

Baher is a Marsh Arab, a native population of the wetlands that Saddam Hussein dammed to drain the marshes. This was in response to rebels who had been hiding in the water reeds.

The marshes had been partially submerged after his 2003 overthrow and many Marsh Arabs returned home, including Baher’s relatives.

However, the fragile ecosystem of the wetlands has been affected by changing conditions, threatening biodiversity and livelihoods. Jassim Al-Asadi is an environmentalist who was born in the marshes.

Christophe Chauveau, an French veterinarian who visited the marshes to survey them, said “the less water, it’s saltier.” He added that, when water quality falls, buffalos will drink less and produce less milk.

Max Planck Institute says that during summer the Middle East has seen a temperature increase of more than 0.5% Celsius per decade, almost twice as much as the global average.

Iraq’s neighbors are also experiencing droughts, rising temperatures and resulting in water disputes. The water ministry said http://www.reuters.com/business/environment/its-rivers-shrink-iraq-thirsts-regional-cooperation-2021-09-06/) earlier this year that water flows from Iran and Turkey were reduced by 50 percent throughout the summer.

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Also, pollution is coming from the upstream. The government stated that in 2019, 5 million cubic meters per day of raw wastewater water was being pumped into Tigris. This river supplies the marshes of Iraq.

Azzam Alwash, an environmentalist, stated that Iraq must immediately adopt a long-term strategy for water management as the country’s rapidly growing population of 40 million people is expected to more than double in 2050.

Aoun Diab, the spokesperson for the ministry of water, stated that the strategy of the government was to protect the permanent, deeper water bodies in the marshes, which cover a minimum 2,800 kilometres (or 1080 miles).

He said, “This was what we have in mind. We want to conserve the permanent waterbodies to safeguard the ecological resources.

Dhiab reported that marsh water levels have partially improved over the summer due to less evaporation caused by falling temperatures. He also said that the wetlands expand and contract naturally according to the seasons.

He stated that the government couldn’t allocate water more to marshes if there was a shortage of water during summer.

“People in the marshes need more water. But we must prioritize. He said that drinking water is the priority, as well as the preservation of the Shatt al Arab river and the municipalities.

Drought and pollution of the Shatt al-Arab river caused a crisis in southern Iraq in 2018, when thousands were hospitalised http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-protests-water-idUSKCN1M624L) with water-borne diseases.

However, the Marsh Arabs are still punished. Baher holds his youngest daughter in his arms, drinking buffalo milk out from his feeder as he tends to his sick buffalo.

   In summer, some of Baher’s relatives moved their herds altogether to deeper parts of the marshes, where salinity levels were lower, but fighting over the best spots as families were forced to share shrinking spaces.

Estimates on the marshes’ current population vary widely http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-heritage-iraq-idUSKCN0ZX0SN. In 1950s America, there were approximately 400,000 people. Around 250,000 returned after the marshes were reflooded.

  While diminishing water supplies pushed farmers this year to move to the cities, where a lack of jobs and services have led to protests in the past, Baher, like many other young herders, hopes that he will be able to remain here.

He said that he felt “a stranger” in the city, recalling the time when the marshes had been drained. We regained freedom when the water returned to the marshes.