In this context, the third Baghdad International Water Conference was held on Saturday and Sunday, under the auspices of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’a al-Sudani, under the slogan “Water scarcity, Mesopotamian marshes , the Shatt al-Arab environment, everyone’s responsibility.”
What did the Sudanese say?
Al-Sudani stressed during his speech at the conference that the falling water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers call for urgent international intervention.
• The water file is at the top of our government’s priorities, and neglecting it will cause us to lose many elements of development and development.
• Our meetings with officials from the countries we share water with have focused on the need for us to get our full share of water and step up technical efforts to resolve issues diplomatically away from the language of climbing.
• We share with the neighboring countries a geographical proximity and religious, social, moral and human ties, which require us all to engage in constructive and fruitful dialogue.
• The government has tended to take advantage of the experiences of certain developed countries to achieve rational water management, through training plans and programs, direct contracts, or the transfer of successful experiences in this direction.
• We have developed a strategy that includes Iraq’s vision for climate action until 2030, and we have launched licensing rounds for associated gas investments to reduce environmentally harmful activities, investments in clean energy and seawater desalination.
Conference Recommendations
• Activate coordination and joint cooperation with neighboring countries bordering Iraq, at regional and international levels, in the field of water resources management and risk analysis resulting from drought and climate change.
• Allocate part of the general budget to provide the necessary financial support for the implementation of strategic plans related to water resources management by governments, and provide technical support by international organizations and the private sector in order to adapt to the effects of water scarcity and climate change.
• Adopt early warning systems and implement proactive projects, especially those related to water scarcity, supporting scientific institutions, universities, organizations and the private sector, and building a research strategy scientist.
• Support Iraq in the field of sustainability of transboundary water resources, to ensure the environmental system and the preservation of biodiversity, and urge the riparian countries to conclude bilateral agreements with it, on the definition of a fair share and reasonable of these resources and the activation of the agreements concluded.
• Cooperation between governments, organizations and donors to implement wastewater treatment and water desalination projects to reduce pressure on surface water uses.
• Invite the riparian countries of the Tigris and Euphrates river basins to accede to the Helsinki Water Agreement of 1992 and the United Nations Convention of 1997, with the aim of preserving the transboundary waters of the pollution.
• Oblige the relevant government institutions to implement the commitments related to the achievement of the objectives of the decade “2020-2030” related to the provision of drinking water and sanitation facilities for all residents.
• Encourage the private sector and research institutions to seek the development of water scarcity adaptation projects.
• Local governments, in cooperation with international organizations, draw up a plan to support innovation in the field of water resources management, which guarantees the non-migration of the population and reduces the phenomenon of mass displacement.
• Emphasis on the principle of rational use of water through increased education and awareness of the local population and water users.
• The conference was held in Baghdad periodically for a period of 3 days and during the month of April each year.
Visions and solutions
Iraqi environmental expert Ayman Qaddouri said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia” that Baghdad’s interest in finding solutions to deal with the water crisis and identifying its causes has been through the succession of specialized conferences, from the climate conference in Basra to took place last March at the Baghdad International Conference. The third was devoted to water, during which Al-Sudani presented a number important visions and solutions to deal with the crisis.
Qaddouri considered that “the axes relate to internal problems such as the rationalization of the water consumption of the farmers in a sustainable way by following the modern irrigation mechanism, the support for the process of securing by financial facilities and the contractualization with international supply companies, as well as showcasing the effects of destruction resulting from water scarcity, including the loss of approximately 5,100 kilometres.” A square of the marsh area, and the rest does not exceed 12 percent. Farmland that has gone from 65 percent use and was not included in previous farm plans as of 2019.”
He added: “Focusing on addressing the internal barriers that deplete water resources is a step in the right direction, based on abandoning country of origin arguments and laying the foundations for a sustainable system of water resource management. The nucleus of this system is the Iraqi Water and Environment Council, which must be created and empowered to play a role.” .
Qaddouri said: “Desalination of sea water will not provide a long-term solution to the problem, and it is a mechanism that does not compensate for water in rivers, because Iraq does not have a long sea coast Large urban centers, part of which is due to increased rates of migration from the countryside to the cities due to drought.
He concluded: “The government must translate the decisions and recommendations of the climate conferences in Basra and the third international water conference in Baghdad, in order to face the greater future impacts of water scarcity, and the most important step is to preserve the sustainability of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, under the supervision of the Water and Environment Council to be created.”
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