UN invites Iraq’s neighbors to discuss water sharing
ERBIL, KRG, Iraq (North Press) – On Tuesday, the United Nations Representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called on Iraq’s neighboring countries to participate in meaningful discussions on water sharing.
Syria and Iraq were affected by a dry climate due to the lack of rainfall, while observers and officials concerned with the water issue attribute the damage to projects implemented by the neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran.
“Poor rainfall, water shortages, soil and water salinization, ineffective resource management, and population growth are all affecting the entire country, in addition to climate change,” Plasschaert stated.
She stressed that the active reduction of water flows from neighboring countries represented another serious threat.
In early March, the second Baghdad International Water Conference was held in Iraq with the participation of representatives from Syria and Turkey as well as international experts.
Plasschaert said the conference is a good start that must now be followed by action.
In 2021, the first water conference was held in Baghdad that highlighted the importance of continuing negotiations with Turkey and Iran to reach understandings in this regard.
The UN representative called on stakeholders to attach importance to the water issue and address it urgently and seriously, and to overcome the political division.
In recent years, Iraq has tried to solve the problem by negotiating with Turkey as well as with Iran, to increase its water quotas and overcome the crisis.
In late November 2021, the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi al-Hamdani, announced that his ministry was able to activate the memorandum of understanding signed with Turkey, which included his country getting a fair water share.
But he denounced the Iranian projects that caused the drought of Diyala province.
Iraqi officials have often voiced concern that Jazira dam project, which the Turkish side intends to implement on the Tigris River, raises concerns to Iraq’s water revenues more than the Ilisu Dam does that caused the Tigris River to dry up in 2018.