mathias depardon

The history of the Mesopotamian rivers and their presence in our own cultural history may be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, spanning some 10,000 years of world heritage.

In the 4th millennium BCE, the first literate societies, the ancient Sumerian and Assyrian civilizations emerged in Southern Mesopotamia, often referred to as the Cradle of Civilization. A geographically and historically important region that fascinated generations of Great Explorers from Alexander the Great to Wilfred Thesiger is at risk.

Today, the Tigris and the Euphrates, the two major river basins that cover much of the Middle East, have become fast-drying rivers. The traditional agriculture of this region, long considered as the original «Garden of Eden», is suffering the full impact of drought, salinization and political interference. Its unique biosphere, ancestral culture and economic balance, based on fishing, buffalo breeding and cutting of reeds, are in danger of disappearing.

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of the Middle East flowing over 1,700 miles from eastern Turkey through Syria and Iraq. It rises on the Armenian plateau, in the north-east of present-day Turkey, crosses Syria before descending towards Iraq. There it joins the Tigris, which flows through Diyarbakir, Mosul and Baghdad.

The meeting point of the two mythical rivers is in the Chatt-al-Arab located in the Iraqi marshes. Over time the flooded surface of these marshes has gradually shrunk. Before 1990, it reached up to 8,000 square miles. In 2014, only 2,500 square miles of marshes were still flooded. Today, barely 1,000 square miles of marsh remains. Over 87% of these rich marshes have become baren.

To compound these depletions, in 2018 there was a major drought which hit the region and was the worst recorded since 1930. What was once considered to be the largest wetland in the Middle East is yet another region of the world struggling with the impacts of climate change and its geopolitical consequences.

In addition to the effects of climate change, man-made developments have only accelerated depletion of water impacting the region. Turkey, having access to the sources of both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, has weaponized the flow of water to its neighbors in the region. The construction of several upstream dams (GAP Project- largest development planning project in the country) in Turkey, has greatly weakened the flow of these important rivers of Mesopotamia.

By controlling the flow of water to its southern neighbors through the construction of these dams, they have essentially used water as a political lever and generating conflict and possibly initiating a” Water War”. The absence of formal agreements between Turkey, Iraq and Syria, on the construction of this dams is considered a violation of international law.

Compounding the issue, the mismanagement of resources by the central government of Iraq condemned the Arab Marshes to drying up at an accelerated rate. Using water as a weapon, in 1991 Sadam Hussein built a series of dikes to drive out Shiite rebels that had settled in the region. As a result, the region was rapidly depopulated. Since the end of the war, access to water has not improved. According to the World Bank, there is still a lack of access to an improved water source for most of the Iraqi population.

As an example, in Karbala, the great Shiite pilgrimage site, farmers are abandoning their land. Iraq’s long-term economic viability depends on water to reduce agricultural imports and revive its industries.

Today, the crisis facing the Mesopotamian marshes continues to escalate. It is projected that in 2025 the Tigris-Euphrates River basin could be under eight times more stress than in 2011. Without significant change, by 2040 the two mighty rivers of Mesopotamia may no longer reach the sea in the Persian Gulf.