Iraq’s farmers and fishermen struggle amid drought

HILLAH,Iraq: Iraq is one of the countries hardest hit by climate change.

The impact is being felt acutely by the nation’s farmers, who have seen crop yields diminish in recent years as temperatures rise.

Farmers in other industries, like Sarhan Jaber Taher, whose family has been rearing water buffalo for generations, have also suffered. 

They care for 200 of 300 of the animals burrently, making a living off their milk. But a changing climate has been eating into their profits.

The Euphrates, the longest river in Western Asia, has fed the Fertile Crescent - a crescent-shaped region that spans several countries including Iraq - for centuries. 

However, upstream dams, outdated methods of irrigation and climate change have been starving the supply of water in central Iraq.

Officials said water flows in the Euphrates, and the Tigris river, which runs almost parallel to it, were down roughly 70 per cent last year compared to previous decades. 

They also said Iraq has lost a fifth of its farming land over the past 20 years, making water more scarce. 

FARMERS, FISHERMEN STRUGGLE

“The farmers are struggling with the lack of water. They are relying on underground water. But sometimes it's available, sometimes it's cut off. Sometimes it's absolutely dry, no water,” said another buffalo farmer Mohamed Naif Anad.

Animal feed, which also requires water, has also gotten more expensive while grass for grazing has dried up. 

It is not just buffalo farmers that are feeling the heat - fishermen have also been impacted. 

In a bid to preserve water, the government stopped some areas from being irrigated for use as fish farms. 

Fishermen told CNA that 2,000 lakes in the area lie barren, drying up a key source of income.

“Fishing is accepted by the world. It was supposed that the authorities would allow us to export and take advantage of this but they misused it,” said fisherman Abdullah Sammih Tareq. 

“We can’t do anything. We can’t go from one job to another. Our job is fishing.”

PEOPLE DISPLACED DUE TO ENVIRONMENT 

According to the United Nations, more than 140,000 people across 12 regions in Iraq have been displaced due to environmental factors. 

They rank it the fifth most vulnerable nation to the effects of a warming world.

With roughly a million internally displaced people in Iraq after years of conflict and instability, UN officials say climate change is hampering recovery efforts.

“When you have issues of drought and water scarcity and food productivity then this will take resources away from recovery and investment in infrastructure,” said UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Ghulam Mohammad Isaczai. 

“Now, the biggest need is housing for IDPs (internally displaced persons) because their houses were destroyed.”

The UN is working on the ground to help the country with water conservation, capacity building and adaptation efforts to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.

However, farmers fear it is just a drop in the bucket.