Updates: polution; hunting; animal slaughter; climate change

[Anthea]

Turkey to increase water flow

Turkey has pledged to increase its release of water downstream into the drought-struck Iraq, the Iraqi water ministry said on Saturday, days after the minister hit back at a Turkish diplomat over water wastage claims

"The Turkish side pledged during the meeting to increase water flow to Iraq to bypass the scarcity crisis it is suffering from," Ali Radi, the water ministry spokesperson told state media, following a virtual meeting between Iraq's water resources minister and the Turkish special presidential envoy for Iraq.

On Tuesday, Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Ali Riza Guney absolved Ankara of any blame for an alarming water shortage currently plaguing Iraq, blaming the shortage on Iraq and saying that "water is largely wasted in Iraq" while suggesting Iraq needs to maximize its water efficiency.

His claims were slammed hours after by Iraqi Minister of Water Resources Mahdi Rashid al-Hamdani, who labeled the Turkish diplomat's remarks as "incorrect" and called on Iraq's foreign ministry to summon the ambassador for his statements.

Radi added that the meeting "discussed the status of water imports of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers entering Iraq," and the Iraqi side agreed to abide by the "policy of dialogue and understandings with upstream countries."

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 the 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.

A senior advisor at the Iraqi water resources ministry warned in April that the country's water reserves have halved since last year, due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining water levels.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/16072022

[Anthea]

Iraq marshes disaster-stricken

The Mesopotamian Marshes are set to be declared as “disaster-stricken areas,” a state-owned newspaper reported on Monday as drought takes its toll on the wetlands turning them into a barren desert and threatening them with extinction

Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province is expected to make the announcement “in the coming hours,” Ghassan al-Khafaji, advisor to the province’s governor was cited as saying by al-Sabah.

"This comes due to the drought that hit it and turned green meadows into a barren desert, as the efforts of local authorities and international organizations did not succeed in saving it," Khafaji said.

The swamplands, also known as the Mesopotamian Marshes and are one of the world's largest inland deltas situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Iraq's troubled marshlands were subject to a massive drainage campaign by former dictator Saddam Hussein in 1991, who ordered their drainage as punishment for local communities who were protecting insurgents he sought to hunt down.

Khafaji called for raising the water levels in the marches "to the internationally required level" as per pledges made by Iraq and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) before their inclusion as a World Heritage site.

The marshes were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2016 due to their biodiversity and ancient history.

Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN.

The devastating effects of climate change are exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian damming upstream of rivers that flow into Iraq, cutting off the drought-ridden nation from much-needed water relief.

Turkey on Saturday said it will increase its water flow downstream into Iraq.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/180720223

[Anthea]

Kurdistan tourism hot spots ruined by trash

KHALIFAN, Kurdistan Region - Tourists flock to the Kurdistan Region’s nature for joyous affairs, but often heaps of litter are left behind tarnishing its picturesque nature

Among these areas is a tourist resort in Khalifan in Erbil province. The owner says despite giving out plastic bags for the trash, the people still litter the waters.

“They [tourists] throw the garbages inside the river and I with my team, tell the tourists to put the garbage inside the plastic bags that we give them. So later we can throw it. But they throw everything in the water,” resort owner Daro Hassan told Rudaw’s Baxtiyar Qadir on Saturday.

Tourists flock to the Kurdistan Region’s nature for joyous affairs, but often heaps of litte is left behind tarnishing its picturesque nature.

Tourism in the Kurdistan Region began booming again after it was hit by coronavirus-related measures in 2020.

Over three million tourists visited the Kurdistan Region in the first half of 2022.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/25072022

[Anthea]

Fear water buffalo extinction

BASRA, Iraq - Fear of water buffaloes going extinct looms in southern Iraq as the war-torn country continues to suffer from climate change that is drastically affecting the number of animals in the area

Water buffaloes are presented as productive animals and their milk is often used for the making of cheese and yogurt as it has a distinctive taste and high levels of fat.

However, their numbers are decreasing due to climate change, pricy fodders, and high salinity in the Shatt al-Arab river, livestock farmer Abu Fares told Rudaw's Bilind Abdullah on Friday.

The farmer owned “more than 200 [water] buffaloes last year,” but it has decreased to “less than 75” now.

The UN says Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to climate change including water and food insecurity.

The country's water reserves have decreased by half since last year due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining river levels, the water ministry warned.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/280720221

[Anthea]

Drought, saltwater on Basra

BASRA, Iraq - The Iraqi province of Basra is experiencing a devastating drought, causing a myriad of date palm trees, Iraq’s national icon, to dry up, forcing farmers to give up working the land

Iraq had 33 million date palm trees 70 years ago, according to data from the Iraqi agriculture ministry. Half of this number has dried up over time due to the severe climate change and the deterioration of the water quality in the oil and the date-rich Basra.

Date farmer Ayad Mohammed, 45, told Rudaw's Haydar Doski on Wednesday that he is unhappy with the products that his date palm trees have given him this season.

Once a source of livelihood, the land Mohammed used to profit from is slowly dying.

The sharp decline in date products in Iraq is contributed to climate change and the old age of palm trees, many of which have exceeded a century.

According to data from the International Bank, date is Iraq's second largest product, after oil. In 2021, Iraqi exported 600,000 tons of dates which were worth $120 million.

Basra endures the repercussions of water scarcity and the high temperatures the season brings.

In addition to bad water management in Iraq, neighboring Iran is also to blame for the scarcity, as Tehran in recent years has reduced the amount of water flowing into the country.

Despite being home to the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Shatt al-Arab, as well as three ports, Basra technically has plenty of water access, but it still cannot provide clean water for drinking or for its agriculture.

Water quality tests have shown that the province's resources are not suitable for drinking and locals have been advised not to use them.

In 2018, more than 100,000 people were hospitalized in Basra after drinking polluted water.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/290720222

[Anthea]

Iraq's Garden of Eden now like a desert

HUWAIZAH MARSHES, Iraq - To feed and cool his buffaloes, Hashem Gassed must cross 10 kilometres (six miles) of sunburnt land in southern Iraq, where drought is devastating swathes of the mythical Mesopotamian Marshes

The reputed home of the biblical Garden of Eden, Iraq's swamplands have been battered by three years of drought and low rainfall, as well as reduced water flows along rivers and tributaries originating in neighbouring Turkey and Iran.

Vast expanses of the once lush Huwaizah Marshes, straddling the border with Iran, have been baked dry, their vegetation yellowing. Stretches of the Chibayish Marshes, which are popular with tourists, are suffering the same fate.

"The marshes are our livelihood -- we used to fish here and our livestock could graze and drink," said Gassed, 35, from a hamlet near Huwaizah.

Southern Iraq's marshlands were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016, both for their biodiversity and their ancient history.

But now, beds of dry streams snake around the once verdant wetlands, and the area's Um al-Naaj lake has been reduced to puddles of muddy water among largely dry ground.

Like his father before him, Gassed raises buffaloes, but only five of the family's around 30 animals are left.

The others died or were sold as the family struggles to make ends meet.

Family members watch carefully over those that remain, fearful that the weak, underfed beasts might fall in the mud and die.

"We have been protesting for more than two years and no one is listening," Gassed said.

"We are at a loss where to go. Our lives are over."

- 'No more fish' -

Nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Mesopotamian Marshes suffered under the former dictator Saddam Hussein, who ordered that they be drained in 1991 as punishment for communities protecting insurgents, and to hunt them down.

The wetlands have sporadically gone through years of harsh drought in the past, before being revived by good rainy seasons.

But between August 2020 and this month, 46 percent of the swamplands of southern Iraq, including Huwaizah and Chibayish, suffered total surface water loss, according to Dutch peace-building organisation PAX.

Another 41 percent of marsh areas suffered from reduced water levels and wetness, according to the organisation, which used satellite data to make the assessment.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in Iraq said the marshes were "one of the poorest regions in Iraq and one of the most affected by the climate change", warning of "unprecedented low water levels".

It noted the "disastrous impact" on more than 6,000 families who "are losing their buffaloes, their unique living asset".

Biodiversity is also at risk.

The swamplands provide a home for "numerous populations of threatened species", and are an important stopping point for around 200 species of migratory water birds, according to UNESCO.

Environmental activist Ahmed Saleh Neema said there were "no more fish", wild boar or even a subspecies of smooth-coated otter in the marshes.

- 'Like a desert' -

He said the Huwaizah swamplands were irrigated by two tributaries of the Tigris River, which originates in Turkey, but that their flows had dropped.

Iraqi authorities are rationing supplies to cover different needs, he said.

"The government wants to preserve the largest quantity of water possible," he added, lamenting "unfair water sharing" and "poor (resource) management".

After pressure from protesters, authorities partially opened the valves, he said, but had closed them again.

On the Iranian side, the Huwaizah Marshes, called Hoor al-Azim, are also suffering.

"The wetland is facing water stress and currently about half of its Iranian part has dried up," Iran's state news agency IRNA reported recently.

Hatem Hamid, who heads the Iraqi government's water management centre, said that "on the Iranian side, the main river that feeds the Huwaizah marsh has been totally cut for more than a year".

The water needs of Iraqi farms and marshlands are only half met, he acknowledged, as authorities are closely monitoring reserves and trying to cover a range of uses, with drinking water one of the "priorities".

Iraqi officials point to canals and small streams that have been rehabilitated to feed into the marshes -- and to where some families have relocated from dried-out areas.

But it is "impossible to compensate for the very high evaporation in the marshes" in temperatures that pass 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), he added.

In Chibayish, the effects of the drought are all too clear to Ali Jawad, who said dozens of families had left his hamlet.

"They migrated towards other regions, looking for areas where there is water," the 20-year-old said.

"Before, when we used to come to the marshes, there was greenery, water, inner peace," he added.

"Now it's like a desert."

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/14082022

[Anthea]

Garbage thrown by tourists

Water which flows from Akre town’s resorts have been polluted with trash thrown by tourists. An environmental organisation warns that this could cause a great danger as the water is used for irrigation and livestock watering

Thousands of tourists, mostly from Iraqi central and southern provinces, visit Akre’s resorts where the weather is mostly cool. Most of these sites have waterfalls whose water is polluted by tourists who throw plastic bottles and other things in the clean water.

The water which comes out of these resorts is used by locals for irrigation of farms and livestock watering but the plastic bottles and other harmful objects could cause health issues to humans who eat produce grown from these farms and animals which drink the water, warns Hazim Ali, head of Waar Environmental Organisation in Akre.

“Water pollution is a great danger because the water is used for irrigation and livestock watering. If the water is polluted, the produce will be bad and animals cannot benefit from the water. People used to drink from this water too but now the tourists pollute it,” he told Rudaw’s Naif Ramazan on Thursday, adding that the water is no longer used for any of the aforementioned purposes.

Local authorities in Akre convened this week to address the issue but they failed to find a solution.

Vael Akreyi, spokesperson for Akre’s tourism department, said they cannot punish those tourists who pollute the water but “we have issued informed them that the water should be kept clear so that people could benefit from it.”

There are over 200 resorts in Duhok province, according to official figures.

Resorts in other parts of the Kurdistan Region also suffer from pollution.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/19082022

[Anthea]

Ocean temperatures skyrocketing

A study exhibits that ocean heat content, global sea levels, and greenhouse gas emissions all reached record highs in 2021

According to the State of the Climate report published Wednesday, compelling scientific evidence demonstrates that the devastating global impacts of climate change show no sign of decreasing, per Rick Spinrad of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which led the study.

The oceans are absorbing the vast majority of the extra heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions, which also showed being at the highest level on record last year, indicating that the planet is absorbing far more heat than it is emitting back into space.

Ocean warming is increasingly tied to extreme weather and climate events, as the global average sea level rose to a record high for the 10th consecutive year.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the world's oceans absorb more than 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases.

When satellite measurement records began, the global average sea level was approximately 3.8 inches higher in 2021 than the 1993 average, and Earth's warming trend does not seem to be stopping, with 2021 among the six warmest years since records began in the mid-to-late 1800s, per the report's finding. 2015 to 2021 were the seven warmest years on record.

In a statement, Spinrad commented, "With many communities hit with 1,000-year floods, exceptional drought, and historic heat this year, it shows that the climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today as we work to build a Climate-Ready Nation — and world — that is resilient to climate-driven extremes."

Scientists have revealed that some parts of the Mediterranean are this year more than 6°C warmer than usual in comparison with previous years, which sparks fears that the sea's fragile ecosystems are suffering what can be called a "marine wildfire" and being changed forever by global warming.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... of-control

[Anthea]

Sea Level May Rise 10 inches

The melting of Greenland's ice sheet under current temperatures will eventually raise the global sea level by at least 27 centimeters, according to a study conducted by Finnish, Danish and U.S. researchers and published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change

The researchers, led by Alun Hubbard from the physical geography research unit at the University of Oulu in Finland, demonstrate that Greenland's ice sheet is so out of balance with the prevailing Arctic climate that at least 59,000 square kilometers of its total area will inevitably melt. The disappearing area is larger than Denmark.

By using detailed measurements of the Arctic climate between 2000 and 2019 combined with satellite and ice-geophysics data, the researchers have precisely determined the imbalance of Greenland's ice sheet.

"This study is something completely new. It is based entirely on actual measurements from Greenland over the last two decades combined with well-established analytical theory," Hubbard said, adding that the researchers, for the first time, can determine Greenland's committed contribution to global sea level rise with absolute confidence.

Furthermore, the study also showed that if every year were like the warmer years of 2012, 2016 or 2019, when Greenland experienced heat waves, the melting of Greenland's ice sheet would raise the global sea level by almost one meter.

Hubbard pointed out that even in the best case, the level will rise by 27 centimeters, but if the climate in Greenland continues to warm as it did in the last two decades, the rise will be closer to one meter.

"That's a complete catastrophe for low-lying coastal regions of the planet, many of which are already experiencing frequent flooding from hurricanes and storm surges," he warned.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Gre ... -0006.html

[Anthea]

Congo rainforest under threat

Around 30 billion tonnes of carbon are stored across the Congo Basin, which is roughly equivalent to three years of global emissions

In the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a sensor-laden tower juts above the canopy, measuring carbon dioxide emissions from the world's second-largest tropical rainforest.

The Congo Basin rainforest spans multiple nations in central Africa and is home to a dazzling array of species. However, as loggers and farmers advance deeper into the forest, there are rising fears about its future, which is deemed vital for CO2 sequestration.

Scientists at the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve in the DRC's Tshopo province are investigating the role of the rainforest in climate change, a topic that has received little attention until lately.

The CO2-measuring flux tower, standing 55 meters tall, went online in 2020 amid the lush reserve of 250,000 hectares (620,000 acres).

During the Belgian colonial era, Yangambi was well-known for his tropical agronomy study.

It also hosted scientists this week as part of pre-COP 27 sessions in the DRC, ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt in November.

The CongoFlux CO2 measurement project's director, flux towers are prevalent around the world, according to Thomas Sibret. But, until Yangambi, there had been none in Congo, limiting "our understanding of this ecosystem," he said.

The Congo Basin stores around 30 billion tonnes of carbon, according to a 2016 study published in Nature. This amount is roughly equal to three years' worth of world emissions.

More time is needed to draw firm conclusions from the DRC's flux tower data, but one thing is certain: the rainforest sequesters more greenhouse gases than it emits, according to Sibret.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... le-to-prot

[Anthea]

Middle East heating up

NICOSIA, Cyprus - The Middle East is heating at nearly twice the global average, threatening potentially devastating impacts on its people and economies, a new climate study shows

Barring swift policy changes, its more than 400 million people face extreme heatwaves, prolonged droughts and sea level rises, said the report released ahead of the UN's COP27 climate summit in Egypt later this year.

The study found an average increase of 0.45 degrees Celsius per decade across the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean region, based on data for 1981-2019, during which the global average rise was 0.27 degrees per decade.

Without immediate changes, the region is projected to heat up by five degrees Celsius by the end of the century, possibly exceeding "critical thresholds for human adaptability" in some countries, the report states.

People "will face major health challenges and risks of livelihood, especially underprivileged communities, the elderly, children and pregnant women", wrote Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Cyprus Institute.
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The study covers the region stretching from Greece and Egypt in the west through to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and the Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates as well as Iran in the east.

- 'Severe challenges' -

The Middle East not only stands to suffer seriously from climate change but has also become a major contributor to it, said the report first published in June in the journal Reviews of Geophysics and updated this week.

The study shows that the oil-rich Middle East is on course to becoming one of the world's leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions, overtaking the European Union within several years.

Lelieveld warned that, "since many of the regional outcomes of climate change are transboundary, stronger collaboration among the countries is indispensable to cope with the expected adverse impacts".

Lead author George Zittis wrote that "business-as-usual pathways for the future" would expand arid climate zones, and the rising seas "would imply severe challenges for coastal infrastructure and agriculture", particularly affecting Egypt's densely populated Nile Delta.

According to the report, "virtually all" areas of life will be "critically affected" by hotter, dryer climate conditions, potentially contributing to an increase in mortality rates and exacerbating "inequalities between the more affluent and impoverished populations" of the region.

Representatives from nearly 200 countries are due to meet in November in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to follow up on the 2015 Paris Agreement, which saw nations promise to limit global heating to "well below" two degrees (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and to work towards a safer 1.5 degree cap through sweeping emissions cuts.

The planet has warmed on average by nearly 1.2 degrees since per-industrial times. In May, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said there was an even chance that the 1.5 degree target would be breached within the next five years.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/12092022

[Anthea]

Twilight of the Tigris

It was the river that is said to have watered the biblical Garden of Eden and helped give birth to civilisation itself. today the Tigris is dying

Human activity and climate change have choked its once mighty flow through Iraq, where -- with its twin river the Euphrates -- it made Mesopotamia a cradle of civilisation thousands of years ago.

Iraq may be oil-rich but the country is plagued by poverty after decades of war and by droughts and desertification.

Battered by one natural disaster after another, it is one of the five countries most exposed to climate change, according to the UN.

From April on, temperatures exceed 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and intense sandstorms often turn the sky orange, covering the country in a film of dust.

Hellish summers see the mercury top a blistering 50 degrees Celsius -- near the limit of human endurance -- with frequent power cuts shutting down air-conditioning for millions.

The Tigris, the lifeline connecting the storied cities of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, has been choked by dams, most of them upstream in Turkey, and falling rainfall.

An AFP video journalist travelled along the river's 1,500-kilometre (900-mile) course through Iraq, from the rugged Kurdish north to the Gulf in the south, to document the ecological disaster that is forcing people to change their ancient way of life.

- Kurdish north: 'Less water every day' -

The Tigris' journey through Iraq begins in the mountains of autonomous Kurdistan, near the borders of Turkey and Syria, where local people raise sheep and grow potatoes.

"Our life depends on the Tigris," said farmer Pibo Hassan Dolmassa, 41, wearing a dusty coat, in the town of Faysh Khabur. "All our work, our agriculture, depends on it.

"Before, the water was pouring in torrents," he said, but over the last two or three years "there is less water every day".

Iraq's government and Kurdish farmers accuse Turkey, where the Tigris has its source, of withholding water in its dams, dramatically reducing the flow into Iraq.

According to Iraqi official statistics, the level of the Tigris entering Iraq has dropped to just 35 percent of its average over the past century.

Baghdad regularly asks Ankara to release more water.

But Turkey's ambassador to Iraq, Ali Riza Guney, urged Iraq to "use the available water more efficiently", tweeting in July that "water is largely wasted in Iraq".

He may have a point, say experts. Iraqi farmers tend to flood their fields, as they have done since ancient Sumerian times, rather than irrigate them, resulting in huge water losses.

- Central plains: 'We sold everything' -

All that is left of the River Diyala, a tributary that meets the Tigris near the capital Baghdad in the central plains, are puddles of stagnant water dotting its parched bed.

Drought has dried up the watercourse that is crucial to the region's agriculture.

This year authorities have been forced to reduce Iraq's cultivated areas by half, meaning no crops will be grown in the badly-hit Diyala Governorate.

"We will be forced to give up farming and sell our animals," said Abu Mehdi, 42, who wears a white djellaba robe.

"We were displaced by the war" against Iran in the 1980s, he said, "and now we are going to be displaced because of water. Without water, we can't live in these areas at all."

The farmer went into debt to dig a 30-metre (100-foot) well to try to get water. "We sold everything," Abu Mehdi said, but "it was a failure".

The World Bank warned last year that much of Iraq is likely to face a similar fate.

"By 2050 a temperature increase of one degree Celsius and a precipitation decrease of 10 percent would cause a 20 percent reduction of available freshwater," it said.

"Under these circumstances, nearly one third of the irrigated land in Iraq will have no water."

Water scarcity hitting farming and food security are already among the "main drivers of rural-to-urban migration" in Iraq, the UN and several non-government groups said in June.

And the International Organization for Migration said last month that "climate factors" had displaced more than 3,300 families in Iraq's central and southern areas in the first three months of this year.

"Climate migration is already a reality in Iraq," the IOM said.

- Baghdad: sandbanks and pollution -

This summer in Baghdad, the level of the Tigris dropped so low that people played volleyball in the middle of the river, splashing barely waist-deep through its waters.

Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources blame silt because of the river's reduced flow, with sand and soil once washed downstream now settling to form sandbanks.

Until recently the Baghdad authorities used heavy machinery to dredge the silt, but with cash tight, work has slowed.

Years of war have destroyed much of Iraq's water infrastructure, with many cities, factories, farms and even hospitals left to dump their waste straight into the river.

As sewage and rubbish from Greater Baghdad pour into the shrinking Tigris, the pollution creates a concentrated toxic soup that threatens marine life and human health.

Environmental policies have not been a high priority for Iraqi governments struggling with political, security and economic crises.

Ecological awareness also remains low among the general public, said activist Hajer Hadi of the Green Climate group, even if "every Iraqi feels climate change through rising temperatures, lower rainfall, falling water levels and dust storms," she said.

- South: salt water, dead palms -

"You see these palm trees? They are thirsty," said Molla al-Rached, a 65-year-old farmer, pointing to the brown skeletons of what was once a verdant palm grove.

"They need water! Should I try to irrigate them with a glass of water?" he asked bitterly. "Or with a bottle?"

"There is no fresh water, there is no more life," said the farmer, a beige keffiyeh scarf wrapped around his head.

He lives at Ras al-Bisha where the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates river, the Shatt al-Arab, empties into the Gulf, near the borders with Iran and Kuwait.

In nearby Basra -- once dubbed the Venice of the Middle East -- many of the depleted waterways are choked with rubbish.

To the north, much of the once famed Mesopotamian Marshes -- the vast wetland home to the "Marsh Arabs" and their unique culture -- have been reduced to desert since Saddam Hussein drained them in the 1980s to punish its population.

But another threat is impacting the Shatt al-Arab: salt water from the Gulf is pushing ever further upstream as the river flow declines.

The UN and local farmers say rising salination is already hitting farm yields, in a trend set to worsen as global warming raises sea levels.

Al-Rached said he has to buy water from tankers for his livestock, and wildlife is now encroaching into settled areas in search of water.

"My government doesn't provide me with water," he said. "I want water, I want to live. I want to plant, like my ancestors."

- River delta: a fisherman's plight -

Standing barefoot in his boat like a Venetian gondolier, fisherman Naim Haddad steers it home as the sun sets on the waters of the Shatt al-Arab.

"From father to son, we have dedicated our lives to fishing," said the 40-year-old holding up the day's catch.

In a country where grilled carp is the national dish, the father-of-eight is proud that he receives "no government salary, no allowances".

But salination is taking its toll as it pushes out the most prized freshwater species which are replaced by ocean fish.

"In the summer, we have salt water," said Haddad. "The sea water rises and comes here."

Last month local authorities reported that salt levels in the river north of Basra reached 6,800 parts per million -- nearly seven times that of fresh water.

Haddad can't switch to fishing at sea because his small boat is unsuitable for the choppier Gulf waters, where he would also risk run-ins with the Iranian and Kuwaiti coastguards.

And so the fisherman is left at the mercy of Iraq's shrinking rivers, his fate tied to theirs.

"If the water goes," he said, "the fishing goes. And so does our livelihood."

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/20092022

[Anthea]

49% of birds extinct worldwide

The exponential decline of bird species globally is leaving almost half of the existing avian population under the threat of exploitation and extinction

A report by The State of the World’s Birds declares that nearly half of the planet’s bird species are in decline. The report, released every four years by BirdLife International, shows that 73% of avian species are under pressure by the expansion and intensification of agriculture, alongside logging, exploitation and abuse of natural resources, deforestation and the climate crisis.

At least 187 species of birds are either suspected or confirmed to be extinct since the year 1500, with one in every eight species being currently endangered, with most of them living on islands, causing 49% of bird species to decline, up from 40% from the previous report, released in 2018. However, birds in tropical regions and large land masses are not exempt from this threat, such as those in Ethiopia, which has seen an 80% decrease in Liben larks since 2007.

Chief scientist at BirdLife International, Dr. Stuart Butchart, explained that the report is made up of a collection of other studies and gives a more comprehensive idea of the state of nature because birds are the best-studied species on the planet, adding: “Birds are useful for telling us about the state of the planet. What they say is that nature is in poor condition, lots of species are in decline".

Approximately 29% of bird species have been destroyed since 1970 in North America and since 1980, 19% have perished in Europe, whose farmland birds have demonstrated the most significant declines: 57% have disappeared as a result of increased mechanization, use of chemicals, and converting land into crops. Australia witnessed 43% of seabird species diminishing between 2000 and 2016. Merely 6% of bird species globally are increasing.

Representing the cornerstones of healthy ecosystems, birds' disappearance eventually snowballs into affecting those that help the nourishment of nature such as Hornbills which disperse large seeds in tropical forests, turkey vultures that dispose of organic waste, and seabirds which maintain coral reef health and aid in the cycle of nutrients between the sea and land.

Dr. Butchart expressed: “We have to stop these declines and start getting on track for recovery. Our future, as well as the world’s birds, depends on it. If we continue to unravel the fabric of life, we’re going to continue to place our own future at threat.”

Even human health is at stake since growing evidence links bird populations to human health. The more bird species decline, the more human health deteriorates and the Covid-19 pandemic is just one possibility with 70% of zoonotic diseases originating in wildlife. A pathogenic variant of avian flu caused by intensive farming has not only led to rapid declines in some bird populations this year but more than 300 outbreaks have been reported in UK seabird colonies.

With the COP15 meeting in Montreal due to take place in December, it represents an opportunity every 10 years to create new legislation to tackle the biodiversity crisis and Dr. Butchart hopes the study's deductions will transfer into the final statement from Montreal: “The key action needed now by governments is to make sure a really ambitious and bold global biodiversity framework is adopted. We’ve got to bend this curve, so by 2030 we’re on a mission of being nature positive".

Possible solutions to the bird crisis include multiplying the quantity and quality of protected areas, conserving remaining habitats, restoring degraded habitats, preventing the illegal hunting of birds, reducing fisheries’ bycatch and preventing overexploitation of natural resources.

Juliet Vickery, chief executive of the British Trust for Ornithology, commented on the report by saying: “The fact that nearly half of all bird species are declining and one in eight is at risk of extinction reinforces the fact that we are living through a biodiversity crisis. It requires action at every level, from local to global. This carries a strong warning about the health of our natural world.”

Among the bird species affected are the South American harpy eagle, which is one of the world’s largest birds of prey, and has declined by 50% in 60 years; the Secretary Bird, originating in sub-Saharan Africa and captured for wildlife trade; the lesser florican, an Indian subcontinent species that has declined by 90% in 20 years; the Central American yellow-naped Amazon which has declined by more than 80% in 30 years, due to poaching and the expansion of agriculture, and as of 2022 is critically endangered; and finally, the Bahama warbler whose habitat was extremely affected by 95% due to Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and was listed as endangered in 2020.

On a slightly positive note, between 21 and 32 bird species would have gone extinct since 1993 if it weren't for conservation work, according to BirdLife, which describes the creation of a new seabird haven the size of France in the North Atlantic, intended to protect 5 million birds.

Even earlier in August, a rare hummingbird has been rediscovered by an explorer in Colombia after disappearing for more than a decade. The large, emerald-colored hummingbird, known as the Santa Marta Sabrewing, only found in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains - thus the name-, was last observed in 2010, but scientists feared the species might be extinct as the tropical forests it called home were subject to deforestation for agricultural reasons.

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[Anthea]

World banks support Amazon deforestation

A report exposes the mishandling of bonds by world central banks that have been contributing to the deforestation of the single largest remaining tropical rain forest

Rights group Global Witness published a report on Wednesday exposing that some of the world’s biggest central banks - among them The Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve, and the European Central Bank - are destroying the Brazilian Amazon by financing agri-business giants.

According to the report Bankrolling Destruction, these financial institutions have invested millions of dollars in bonds issued by companies linked to deforestation and illegal land-grabbing, adding: “Because these programs are guaranteed by the respective governments in the UK, the US and EU Member States, this means taxpayers throughout those territories are unwittingly underwriting companies engaged in the destruction of the Amazon and other rainforests".

The Amazon covers parts of nine different South American countries and is considered a critical and vital carbon sink to absorb the CO2 emissions fueling the climate crisis. Brazil has observed a massive wave of deforestation projects under the agenda of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, which hit a record high for the first seven months of the year.

Known as “asset purchase programs”, banks buy corporate bonds issued by firms to inject liquidity into financial markets when the private sector does not lend. These aim to reduce the cost of borrowing for the firms and were witnessed in wide use during the pandemic as a way of reviving economies.

Of these firms, the report named Cargill, Inc., the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM), and Bunge Ltd Financial Corp, as three of the biggest agri-business conglomerates operating in Brazil, one of the globe's biggest producers and exporters of grains, coffee, soy, fruit, and other raw materials.

The Guardian reported the presence of a connection between Cargill and Bunge to a Brazilian farm that has been engaging in abuses of indigenous rights and land. Cargill is a main supplier of animal feed, and it continues to purchase soya and corn from a farm that is responsible for the deforestation of the Amazon.

It sells feed to chicken farms in the United Kingdom, and it buys crops from a soybean farm on deforested land in the Brazilian Amazon; the supplier farm goes by the name Fazenda Conquista, as revealed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Greenpeace Unearthed, Reporter Brasil and Ecostorm.

In response to the claims in the Global Witness report, Cargill said it was “committed to ending deforestation and conversion in our agricultural supply chains” and Bunge stated it was “committed to complying with all regulations either in local or global markets and to adhering to our own strict social-environmental policies."

According to their website, Bunge Ltd is an agricultural business headquartered in Missouri, US, that provides products ranging from specialty oils to milled grains, to consumer and restaurant brands.

“Since 2016, the Bank of England has also purchased an undisclosed share in a £150m corporate bond issued by Cargill, Inc., and the European Central Bank has bought an undisclosed amount of debt issued by Bunge Finance Europe B.V." stated the report, as it added that the central banks suffered the criticism the most.

In the timeframe of the mere last two years, “the US Federal Reserve has bought a combined total of $16m of bonds issued by the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) Bunge Ltd Financial Corp, and Cargill, Inc.," the report explained, stressing that "all this comes despite the repeated public statements from all three central banks stressing the risks that climate change poses to financial stability and long-term economic growth.”

All three financial institutions have taken steps, according to the Global Witness, in light of the criticism faced regarding their measures that have been erasing the very being of the rainforest. The Federal Reserve, for instance, minimized its purchase of bonds, with the institution announcing the adoption of the policy as a one-time step in 2020 to save jobs during the global pandemic, reiterating its intentions to avoid such a thing again.

The Bank of England then stated its initiatives to lower borrowing costs for firms - labeling the hefty support given to Cargill as “an extremely narrow focus” and would follow the steps of the Fed.

In turn, the European Central Bank announced that it “aims to gradually decarbonize its corporate bond holdings, on a path aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. To that end, the Eurosystem will tilt these holdings towards issuers with better climate performance through the reinvestment of the sizeable redemptions expected over the coming years.”

UK and EU banks however have been tarnished by the Global Witness with "a lack of transparency" after refusing to make public the values of their holdings in the companies involved: “As supervisors of the private financial sector, central banks must lead by example and adopt an explicit zero-deforestation policy as part of their approach to climate change, including divestment from all deforestation-linked bonds and greater scrutiny of the threat to financial stability posed by deforestation and biodiversity loss,” the report said.

26% of the Amazon has already been wiped out and some parts of the forest that many Indigenous tribes and native animals call home, have become dry to the point of no return. Many Indigenous peoples of Brazil call the Amazon rainforest home.

Nick Robins, a professor of sustainable financing at the London School of Economics said: “I think this report is a very useful piece of analysis which highlights the need for central banks to look at their exposure to deforestation in their portfolios", stressing that “2022 really is the year that central banks recognized nature risk as a threat to institutions. The focus up to now has been on the energy sector but this is another signal that deforestation and land use needs to be put at the heart of climate scenarios.”

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[Anthea]

UK destroys forests in Canada

An investigation led by BBC found that the owner of Britain's largest power station, Drax, is secretly generating energy by cutting down rare, old-growth forests in British Columbia

An investigation carried out by BBC Panorama found that Drax, a UK company engaged in renewable power generation, is exploiting primary natural forests, causing massive environmental damage through deforestation in British Columbia, Canada.

Drax, which received £6bn in green energy subsidies from UK taxpayer money, runs Britain's biggest power station through the consumption of millions of tonnes of wood pellets, a strategy deemed convenient for clean biomass energy.

The plant is currently located in Yorkshire, UK, and currently produces about 12% of the UK's renewable energy.

The investigative team uncovered that some of the wood was sourced from primary forests in Canada.

The company claims it uses waste wood which comprises around 20% of its feedstock, while the remaining 80% comes from sawmill residues like sawdust, chips, and shavings.

Unlike coal or natural gas, wood is a low-carbon fuel, which makes its consumption green. However, some environmentalists contest this approach.

Burning wood produces more emissions than burning coal, yet it is classified as renewable because new trees are allegedly planted to replace the old ones and these new trees should recapture the carbon emitted by burning wood pellets.

Satellite images captured by the team showed clear evidence of Drax trucks picking up logs from an area of precious forest.

According to ecologist Michelle Connolly, Drax was taking part in the destruction of forests that had taken thousands of years to grow.

"It's really a shame that British taxpayers are funding this destruction with their money. Logging natural forests and converting them into pellets to be burned for electricity, is absolutely insane," Connolly said.

Per the investigation, Drax purchased logging licenses to earn access to two areas of primary forest in British Columbia, one of which is a square mile, including other areas that have been identified as old-growth forests.

British Columbia's federal government says old-growth forests are recognized as having very high aesthetic, cultural, and nature conservation values and those companies who exploit them for lucrative purposes should cease their operations.

The company's own sourcing policy says it "will avoid damage or disturbance" to primary and old-growth forests, but the evidence clearly indicates otherwise.

The pretext of waging a logging campaign on these forests is that many of the trees there had already died, and therefore logging would reduce the risk of wildfires, according to Drax.

Drax has previously been accused of enabling environmental racism by providing £2 million ($2.15 million) per day in subsidies to Drax Biomass, an energy company that has paid millions to US regulators over allegations that it violated chemical emission restrictions at wood chip plants near black and low-income communities.

Drax was accused of violating regulations governing the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a category of air pollutants associated with cancer, respiratory issues, and other negative health impacts.

Drax has been accused of driving “environmental racism” after a @UE investigation by @QuashieIdun and @Cdeane__ revealed that the power company has agreed a $3.2m settlement over toxic emissions in the US Deep South. Watch and share our latest video now. pic.twitter.com/JEapsirApP
— Unearthed (@UE) October 3, 2022

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