Al-Hawiza Marshes ( Iraq ) - (AFP) - Hashem is forced to travel ten kilometers through arid lands in southern Iraq, to obtain water and fodder for his buffaloes and protect them from destruction, due to a drought that strikes the marshes after they were for thousands of years, striking as the abundance of water in them.

Today, very large areas of water have disappeared from the Hawizeh marsh, which is located on the border with the eastern neighbor Iran, and the Chibayish marsh, which is a tourist destination to the south, and these swamps have turned into dry, cracked land, between which yellow bushes emerged.

The reason is the drought and the almost complete absence of rain during the last three years, but also the low level of water flowing from the rivers that flow from the neighboring countries Iran and Turkey, which forced Baghdad to ration the use of its reserves.

Hashem Kased (35 years old) lives in a poor village at the Al-Hawiza marsh. "The drought has affected us greatly, on humans and animals," he says.

In this region, nothing remains of the Umm al-Na`aj marsh except muddy pools of water here and there, and dry lines of water streams that descended through the once fertile marshes, and were listed on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2016. .

Like his father before, Hashem works as a buffalo breeder. He recounts, "We used to live in the marshes. We caught fish, and the animals drank the water and graze among the reeds."

Today, Hashim's family has only five buffaloes out of the more than thirty heads they owned as a result of the death of some of them, and the sale of others during the past few years to cover the family's expenses.

The family was forced to take care of the remaining livestock to protect them from perishing in case they fell into the mud. Exhausted and malnourished animals would not be able to fetch themselves.

The marshes witnessed previous years of severe drought before they were irrigated again by heavy rainy seasons.

Between 2020 and 2022, the water and humidity level decreased in 41% of the area of the marshes in southern Iraq, including Al-Hawizeh and Al-Jabayesh, while water bodies dried up in 46% of the area of the marshes, according to a survey conducted by the Dutch non-governmental organization "Pax", based on photos from satellites.

In light of the sharp decline in the marshlands, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) sounded the alarm, warning in a report published in mid-July that the marshes are "one of the poorest regions in Iraq and one of the regions most affected by climate change and water shortages."

She pointed to "catastrophic effects on the livelihoods of more than 6,000 rural families, as they lost their buffaloes, which is their only source of livelihood."

"The drought completely wiped out biodiversity. There are no fish or animals such as water dogs, wild pigs or birds," said environmental activist Ahmed Saleh Nema, 40, who lives in the nearby city of Amarah.

On its website, UNESCO states that the marshes are home to "multiple species of endangered animals" and "one of the largest wintering stops" for ducks and a "major stopping-off site" for about 200 species of migratory birds.

According to activist Ahmed Saleh, the Hawizeh Marsh is mainly fed by two tributaries of the Tigris River, which originates in Turkey. However, the authorities regulated their flow as part of a government plan to rationalize water use in order to meet all the country's needs.

"The government wants to conserve as much water as possible to protect its strategic reserves," Saleh says. At the same time, however, he criticizes the "wrong management of the water file" and the "unfair division of water."

Under the pressure of the demonstrations, the authorities partially opened the water flow before stopping it again, according to the activist.

On the Iranian side, these marshes, which are called the "Great Horm", also suffer from water receding. Half of the Iranian part of it has dried up, as the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA) recently reported.

The Director General of the National Center for Water Resources Management, Hatem Hamid, blames neighboring Iran for the crisis.

He says, "The main supply of the Hawizeh Marsh is from the Iranian side, but the river has been completely cut off for more than a year."

The official added that the water needs of agricultural activities and the marshes are only partially covered in light of water rationing on the Iraqi side as well, while among the priorities there is the need to secure drinking water.

"The agricultural sector and the marshes are the most affected by water scarcity, because they are the two largest water-consuming sectors," the official explains.

With temperatures exceeding 50°C, it also refers to the "high evapotranspiration that occurs in the marshes" and cannot be compensated for by the available water.

"We cannot secure (water) for agriculture 100%, nor for the marshes 100%," he added.

For his part, Hussein Al-Kilani, Director General of the Marsh Restoration Center, says that there is a program this year to expand, deepen and rehabilitate the waterways and rivers that irrigate the marshes, explaining that this helped limit the migration of buffalo breeders and their concentration on the banks of the rivers feeding the marshes.

The marshes extend between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia. Some describe them as "Gardens of Eden on Earth."

But this land, rich in life, was subjected to repeated drought and suffering during the rule of the former regime. In order to suppress opponents who took refuge in it, Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in the nineties of the last century. Since then, its wetland areas have almost halved.

In the Chibayish Marshes, Ali Jawad, 20, summarizes the current conditions by saying, "Before, when we used to enter the marshes, we used to see green spaces, water, and inner peace... Now it's a desert."

Dozens of families abandoned the place, he said, "in search of places with water."