Shafaq News
Across Iraq’s southern countryside, fertile villages have withered into
barren ground, and families once tied to the land are abandoning homes,
livestock, and traditions to seek life elsewhere.
Entire communities now face extinction as herders and fishing families
lose the resources that sustained them for generations. What once symbolized
abundance has become a daily struggle against scarcity.
A Widow’s Story
In a village in Maysan province, Um Hajar, a widow in her fifties and
mother of three daughters, recounted how her life collapsed when the local
river dried up and her buffalo perished. For decades, she survived by breeding
animals and selling fish from nearby waters.
“I used to live on water, buffalo, and fish,” she told Shafaq News, her
voice breaking with fatigue. “Today, there is nothing left, so I had to migrate
to support my daughters.”
Her experience mirrors countless others across Iraq’s southern marshes,
where families have lost livelihoods once tied to land and water.
Abu Karam, a veteran fisherman, described his struggle to earn money
amid shrinking rivers and mass fish die-offs. “I have been a fisherman for 40
years,” he said. “I don’t know how to do anything else.”
Agriculture in Crisis
Farming remains the backbone of Maysan’s economy, yet drought has pushed
households to sell buffalo at distress prices, abandon fields, and watch
livestock perish.
Majid Jumaa Abdul-Hassan, director of Maysan’s Agriculture Department,
warned that this year marks a particularly “dangerous” stage in the water
crisis, forcing the cancellation of summer crops and delaying the winter
farming plan. The Ministry of Agriculture has yet to finalize the 2025–2026
winter program, pending assessments of available supplies.
Agricultural advisor Mehdi Dhamad al-Qaisi told Shafaq News the ministry
is considering alternatives such as closed-system fish farming and improved
livestock breeding. But he acknowledged that limited funding has slowed
progress.
Shafaq News has previously reported that southern provinces like Dhi
Qar, Basra, and Maysan have lost vast tracts of arable land over the past
decade. Satellite data showed marshland areas shrinking by more than half
compared to the 1990s. Herding families, once central to the marshland economy,
saw their animals die off, while fishermen abandoned reed boats as rivers
disappeared.
Political and Regional Dimensions
Lawmaker Thaer Mukheif, from the parliamentary Agriculture and Marshes
Committee, warned that persistent shortages could drive new waves of
displacement, deepening unemployment, and straining services in cities.
This warning echoes earlier Shafaq News coverage of rural-to-urban
migration, where displaced families from the marshes settled in informal
housing around Baghdad and Basra, creating new social and economic pressures.
The crisis also ties into regional water disputes. Iraq has long accused
Turkiye and Iran of cutting flows. In 2023, the Water Resources Ministry
revealed that Iranian diversions had severed tributaries feeding Diyala and the
southern marshes, while Turkiye’s dam operations further restricted the Tigris
and Euphrates. Shafaq News documented how these cuts triggered tribal protests
in Wasit and Maysan, where demonstrators blocked highways to demand action.
Read more: Iraq’s water crisis deepens: Reserves collapse, mismanagement continues
Local Discontent and Women’s Burden
Agricultural expert Tahseen al-Moussawi estimated that more than 60
percent of marshland residents—particularly herders and fishing families—have
already left their homes, stressing that women, once central to the local
economy, have been among the hardest hit.
“Government measures were worse than the disaster itself,” he said,
criticizing what he described as ineffective state responses.
Shafaq News field reports from Dhi Qar told of women who once processed
buffalo milk into cream and cheese, now forced into city domestic work. The
decline has not only deepened economic hardship but also eroded cultural
traditions rooted in Iraq’s south.
Future at Risk
Water Minister Aoun Diab has described this year as Iraq’s most
difficult in decades, citing scarce rainfall and reduced inflows from upstream
countries. He stressed the urgent need for stronger policies to secure water
and adapt to climate change.
International assessments consistently rank Iraq among the world’s most
climate-vulnerable states. In the marshlands, this threat is no longer
abstract. Families are abandoning ancestral homes, centuries-old livelihoods
are vanishing, and a unique cultural heritage tied to water risks disappearing.
Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.
