 |
| (Al Masalah) |
Iraq is in the midst of its rainy season with sporadic flooding. Those that might hope this will be relief from the multi-year drought will be disappointed.
The Water Ministry said that the rain will be collected in reservoirs and help alleviate the country’s drought. It then talked about its plans to build new dams, reservoirs and other infrastructure. It tried to say that it was dealing with the immediate problem and that it had long term plans as well. There was disagreement about how effective this would be.
Al Aalem reported that the government was supposed to prepare for the rains starting in September but did nothing. An expert told the paper that the rain would only help agriculture. That was supported by an environmental analyst who said that the rain could refresh some dry areas but not help with water storage levels. He went on to say that Baghdad has not build dams to capture the flow of rainwater that has changed from previous years due to climate change.
This is another major failure of the Iraqi government. It talks about how it is trying to alleviate its water problems but it is taking few tangible actions to do so. This is how it deals with most issues. It has big words and then does little. The core problem is that the elite do not believe this is a major problem and therefore is not making it a priority. Until that changes Iraq will only suffer more as its environment changes for the worse.
SOURCES
Al Aalem, “The rainy year … Will it cure Iraq’s drought?” 11/19/23
Al Mada, “Iraq is losing its bodies of water … and resources: We seek to exploit rainwater,” 11/19/23
No comments:
Post a Comment