World Bank warns Iraq is running out of water

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The World Bank warned on Wednesday that Iraq is running out of water and this will have a devastating impact on employment and the economy. 

“By 2050, a temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius, and a precipitation decrease of 10% would cause a 20% reduction of available freshwater. Under these circumstances, nearly one-third of the irrigated land in Iraq will have no water by the year 2050,” read a World Bank report on Iraq’s economy.

Titled “The Slippery Road to Economic Recovery,” the report said that Iraq’s economic outlook has improved with higher oil prices and GDP is projected to grow by over six percent by 2023, but “without accelerated economic reform, unforeseen domestic and fiscal risks could cause reverses,” it warned.

A failure to manage water resources would be one factor damaging the economy, it stated. A 20 percent reduction in available freshwater would mean higher unemployment: “demand for unskilled labor in agricultural activities could drop by 11.8% and in non-agricultural activities by 5.4%” and GDP “could drop by up to 4 percent, or US$6.6 billion compared to 2016 levels.”

This past year was a very dry one and farmers across the country saw their crops wither and yields drop. The agriculture ministry said last month that the government has approved a plan to reduce this year’s winter crops in irrigated areas by 50 percent because of lack of water.

Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity. Low rainfall levels and high temperatures caused by climate change are depleting water supplies across the country. Much of Iraq’s agricultural lands depend on irrigation, and dams and reservoirs were at record-low levels this summer.