A Tuesday visit to Turkey to discuss Baghdad-Ankara ties provided measurable success for Sudani after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to double the water releases from the Tigris River for a period of one month, saying the decision was made “in order to relieve Iraq’s distress.”
“Our government will continue to implement the priorities of its plans to enhance water storage and reduce waste,” Sudani said on Twitter, adding that his government is working to ensure Iraq’s fair share of the resource through negotiations and dialogue with neighboring Turkey and calling the visit “an example of the success of the government’s directions.”
Water levels in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers – shared by Iraq, Syria, and Turkey – have dropped considerably in recent years. In the latest stark warning of the threats a heating climate poses to the country, a report by Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources towards the end of last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq’s two main rivers will be entirely dry by 2040.
With Wednesday marking World Water Day, Sudani reiterated the need to regulate the usage of the ever-declining resource and again commended the agreements with Ankara.
On World Water Day, we reaffirm our commitment to regulating water consumption to preserve this precious resource.
— محمد شياع السوداني (@mohamedshia) March 22, 2023
We endeavor to secure Iraq's water shares via talks and agreements, & we succeeded in increasing water releases from Tigris during our visit to neighboring Turkiye.
Water scarcity is a severe issue in Iraq. The country is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN.
However, the issue is exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian damming of rivers that flow into Iraq, cutting off the increasingly dry nation from much-needed water relief. Ankara has built a mega-dam on the Tigris River.
Much of Iraq's agricultural lands depend on irrigation, but dams and reservoirs were at record-low levels this summer.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has long warned that water availability in Iraq is set to decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of Iraq’s agriculture and industry.
