Sandstorms ripped through Gulf states as well as Iran, Iraq and Syria this week, putting thousands in hospital and disrupting flights.
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
25 May, 2022
Sandstorms have ripped through much of the Middle East over the past few days
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
25 May, 2022
Sandstorms have ripped through much of the Middle East over the past few days
[Anadolu via Getty]
The latest in a series of sandstorms has torn through much of the Middle East in the last few days, sending thousands to hospital with breathing difficulties.
For the second time this month, Kuwait International Airport suspended all flights Monday because of the dust. Video showed largely empty streets with poor visibility. Flights resumed on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia’s meteorological association reported that visibility would drop to zero on the roads in Riyadh, the capital, this week. Officials warned drivers to go slowly. Emergency rooms in the city were flooded with 1,285 patients this month complaining they couldn’t breathe properly.
Iran last week shut down schools and government offices in the capital of Tehran over a sandstorm that swept the country. It hit hardest in the nation’s southwest desert region of Khuzestan, where over 800 people sought treatment for breathing difficulties. Dozens of flights out of western Iran were canceled or delayed.
In Syria, sandstorms wreaked damage on camps in the Raqqa area in the country's north, with a number of camp residents taken to hospital because of breathing difficulties, North Press Agency reported.
Sandstorms in northern and eastern Syria earlier this month killed five people, the Syrian news outlet reported.
The Middle East's sandstorms are becoming more frequent and intense, a trend associated with overgrazing and deforestation, overuse of river water and more dams.
Experts say the phenomenon could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns and drives desertification.
Iraq has been particularly hard hit by the storms, with thousands of people hospitalised by the barrage of sand storms this spring.
“Its a region-wide issue but each country has a different degree of vulnerability and weakness,” Jaafar Jotheri, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Al-Qadisiyah in Baghdad told AFP.
In Iraq, desertification exacerbated by record-low rainfall is adding to the intensity of storms, Jotheri said.
“Because of 17 years of mismanagement of water and urbanisation, Iraq lost more than two thirds of its green cover,” he said. “That is why Iraqis are complaining more than their neighbors about the sandstorms in their areas.”
Iraq's meteorological society forecast "rising dust" in parts of the country until the weekend.
Last week, the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai - vanished behind a layer of dust because of a sandstorm.
The latest in a series of sandstorms has torn through much of the Middle East in the last few days, sending thousands to hospital with breathing difficulties.
For the second time this month, Kuwait International Airport suspended all flights Monday because of the dust. Video showed largely empty streets with poor visibility. Flights resumed on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia’s meteorological association reported that visibility would drop to zero on the roads in Riyadh, the capital, this week. Officials warned drivers to go slowly. Emergency rooms in the city were flooded with 1,285 patients this month complaining they couldn’t breathe properly.
Iran last week shut down schools and government offices in the capital of Tehran over a sandstorm that swept the country. It hit hardest in the nation’s southwest desert region of Khuzestan, where over 800 people sought treatment for breathing difficulties. Dozens of flights out of western Iran were canceled or delayed.
In Syria, sandstorms wreaked damage on camps in the Raqqa area in the country's north, with a number of camp residents taken to hospital because of breathing difficulties, North Press Agency reported.
Sandstorms in northern and eastern Syria earlier this month killed five people, the Syrian news outlet reported.
The Middle East's sandstorms are becoming more frequent and intense, a trend associated with overgrazing and deforestation, overuse of river water and more dams.
Experts say the phenomenon could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns and drives desertification.
Iraq has been particularly hard hit by the storms, with thousands of people hospitalised by the barrage of sand storms this spring.
“Its a region-wide issue but each country has a different degree of vulnerability and weakness,” Jaafar Jotheri, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Al-Qadisiyah in Baghdad told AFP.
In Iraq, desertification exacerbated by record-low rainfall is adding to the intensity of storms, Jotheri said.
“Because of 17 years of mismanagement of water and urbanisation, Iraq lost more than two thirds of its green cover,” he said. “That is why Iraqis are complaining more than their neighbors about the sandstorms in their areas.”
Iraq's meteorological society forecast "rising dust" in parts of the country until the weekend.
Last week, the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai - vanished behind a layer of dust because of a sandstorm.
Iraq is facing an ecological disaster
Once known for its fertile lands and lush agriculture, Iraq is facing an impending climate crisis as drought, incessant sand storms and scorching heat, compounded by a failing government, promise a difficult summer.
The New Arab
24 May, 2022
For thousands of years, Iraq and ancient Mesopotamia have been known as a green, fertile land surrounded by an otherwise inhospitable climate. Iraq is also known in Arabic as Bilad al-Rafidayn, or the Land of the Two Rivers, in reference to the Tigris and Euphrates that have long sustained some of the world’s oldest civilisations.
Despite this rich and fertile history, Iraq’s water sources are drying up due to domestic neglect and regional powers such as Turkey and Iran damming up waters that have historically flowed through the country.
If Iraq’s water resources – vital to life – are put under any additional strain, conflicts could erupt not over fossil fuels, but over this key fundamental resource that is essential to life – both human and otherwise.
"If Iraq's water resources – vital to life – are put under any additional strain, conflicts could erupt not over fossil fuels, but over this key fundamental resource that is essential to life – both human and otherwise"
Desertification and dust storms
In recent weeks, Iraq has been buffeted by seemingly incessant dust storms that have covered the Middle Eastern country in an ominous orange haze. Aside from the obvious respiratory conditions that these dust storms have caused, they have also led to fatalities.
Flights were suspended, government offices shuttered, and thousands were hospitalised since Iraq came to a halt, and the dust storms have led to the death of at least one Iraqi and several others in neighbouring Syria.
The latest dust storm is the eighth in just one month with more such incidents expected in the near future, indicating that these are more than simply a freak occurrence.
Adding to the dust storms are Iraq’s now-annual scorching summer heats. While Iraq has always been a hot country, the recent spikes in temperatures – that can hit as high as 50 degrees Celsius – have been amplified recently, particularly due to intermittent electricity and a shortage of air conditioning.
The searing temperatures, increased water and soil salinity, and the gradually declining annual rainfall has led to another problem – food insecurity.
Despite this rich and fertile history, Iraq’s water sources are drying up due to domestic neglect and regional powers such as Turkey and Iran damming up waters that have historically flowed through the country.
If Iraq’s water resources – vital to life – are put under any additional strain, conflicts could erupt not over fossil fuels, but over this key fundamental resource that is essential to life – both human and otherwise.
"If Iraq's water resources – vital to life – are put under any additional strain, conflicts could erupt not over fossil fuels, but over this key fundamental resource that is essential to life – both human and otherwise"
Desertification and dust storms
In recent weeks, Iraq has been buffeted by seemingly incessant dust storms that have covered the Middle Eastern country in an ominous orange haze. Aside from the obvious respiratory conditions that these dust storms have caused, they have also led to fatalities.
Flights were suspended, government offices shuttered, and thousands were hospitalised since Iraq came to a halt, and the dust storms have led to the death of at least one Iraqi and several others in neighbouring Syria.
The latest dust storm is the eighth in just one month with more such incidents expected in the near future, indicating that these are more than simply a freak occurrence.
Adding to the dust storms are Iraq’s now-annual scorching summer heats. While Iraq has always been a hot country, the recent spikes in temperatures – that can hit as high as 50 degrees Celsius – have been amplified recently, particularly due to intermittent electricity and a shortage of air conditioning.
The searing temperatures, increased water and soil salinity, and the gradually declining annual rainfall has led to another problem – food insecurity.
An Iraqi woman walks in the capital Baghdad during one of many sand storms that have hit Iraq since last month, covering the city in a thick orange haze, on May 1, 2022. [Getty]
Already this year, the lack of water has led the Iraqi government to order farmers to cultivate only half the usual land they would be harvesting close to this time of year. The reduced size of arable land, and the added strain of high temperatures and lack of water, have meant that farmers have quite often watched their harvests wilt to half their usual size.
Agriculture ministry spokesman Hamid al-Nayef said the state was helping by raising the purchase price in order to pay producers around $500 per tonne of wheat.
In 2019 and 2020, wheat harvests had reached five million tonnes, enough to guarantee “self-sufficiency” for Iraq, he told AFP.
This season, Iraq may only grow 2.5-3 million tonnes of wheat, “not enough for a whole year for the Iraqis,” Nayef acknowledged. “We will have to import,” he said.
However, that may not be a readily available solution. As is often the case with economics, Iraq’s problems have also been impacted by international worries, particularly as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had an additional knock-on effect on the prices of fuel, fertilisers and seeds.
Russia and Ukraine are both in the top ten of wheat exporters globally, sitting at third and tenth respectively. As the war between the two continues, this has had a significant slowing effect on the export of hundreds of millions of tonnes of wheat, impacting the global supply while simultaneously ramping up prices.
While global warming and the climate crisis have impacted much of the world, it has been felt particularly acutely in Iraq, a country already ravaged by war, mismanagement of natural resources (including water), and a political system that is stunted by corruption and nepotism.
This has left Iraq more vulnerable and susceptible to global shocks – such as Ukraine – in addition to spiralling costs resulting from supply chain problems that have been felt on an international scale, particularly as China – Iraq’s largest investor – attempts to eradicate its latest wave of coronavirus.
It has also left Iraq – weakened by decades of war and a lack of sovereignty – at the mercy of its neighbours.
Turkey, despite its rhetoric that often champions countries deemed to be in need – such as Somalia – seems to have little problem with continuing to build dams on both the Tigris and the Euphrates to generate hydroelectricity. This has led to, in some cases, a drop of almost two-thirds of expected water flow into Iraq.
"While global warming and the climate crisis has impacted much of the world, it has been felt particularly acutely in Iraq, a country already ravaged by war, mismanagement of natural resources, and a political system that is stunted by corruption and nepotism"
While Ankara’s decision to build these dams has alleviated some of Turkey’s energy problems, it has exacerbated Iraq’s water problems, leading to receding river banks, desertification, and increased soil salinity – a death knell for agriculture.
The water flow has been so badly weakened that the salt water of the Arabian Gulf has begun to flow further inland, further damaging Iraq’s soil.
Iraq’s neighbour to the east, meanwhile, has also been the source of damaging water policies. Iran has stymied the flow of the Shatt al-Arab river by digging canals to the Bahmanshir tributary, leading to not only a 90 percent drop in water, but also a shifting of the international border by affecting the Shatt’s dividing thalweg line in favour of Iran.
Such is the level of distress in Iraq at its receding water supplies that the authorities in Baghdad – ordinarily very friendly to Iran – announced in January this year that they would seek legal action against Iran to compel it to respect international treaties.
The thalweg line in the Shatt was one of the key causes behind the Iran-Iraq War in 1980. While there is little chance that Iraq will be able to militarily prosecute a war to secure its borders now, this water and border issue may be the spark of a future conflict between the two uneasy neighbours.
Already this year, the lack of water has led the Iraqi government to order farmers to cultivate only half the usual land they would be harvesting close to this time of year. The reduced size of arable land, and the added strain of high temperatures and lack of water, have meant that farmers have quite often watched their harvests wilt to half their usual size.
Agriculture ministry spokesman Hamid al-Nayef said the state was helping by raising the purchase price in order to pay producers around $500 per tonne of wheat.
In 2019 and 2020, wheat harvests had reached five million tonnes, enough to guarantee “self-sufficiency” for Iraq, he told AFP.
This season, Iraq may only grow 2.5-3 million tonnes of wheat, “not enough for a whole year for the Iraqis,” Nayef acknowledged. “We will have to import,” he said.
However, that may not be a readily available solution. As is often the case with economics, Iraq’s problems have also been impacted by international worries, particularly as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had an additional knock-on effect on the prices of fuel, fertilisers and seeds.
Russia and Ukraine are both in the top ten of wheat exporters globally, sitting at third and tenth respectively. As the war between the two continues, this has had a significant slowing effect on the export of hundreds of millions of tonnes of wheat, impacting the global supply while simultaneously ramping up prices.
While global warming and the climate crisis have impacted much of the world, it has been felt particularly acutely in Iraq, a country already ravaged by war, mismanagement of natural resources (including water), and a political system that is stunted by corruption and nepotism.
This has left Iraq more vulnerable and susceptible to global shocks – such as Ukraine – in addition to spiralling costs resulting from supply chain problems that have been felt on an international scale, particularly as China – Iraq’s largest investor – attempts to eradicate its latest wave of coronavirus.
It has also left Iraq – weakened by decades of war and a lack of sovereignty – at the mercy of its neighbours.
Turkey, despite its rhetoric that often champions countries deemed to be in need – such as Somalia – seems to have little problem with continuing to build dams on both the Tigris and the Euphrates to generate hydroelectricity. This has led to, in some cases, a drop of almost two-thirds of expected water flow into Iraq.
"While global warming and the climate crisis has impacted much of the world, it has been felt particularly acutely in Iraq, a country already ravaged by war, mismanagement of natural resources, and a political system that is stunted by corruption and nepotism"
While Ankara’s decision to build these dams has alleviated some of Turkey’s energy problems, it has exacerbated Iraq’s water problems, leading to receding river banks, desertification, and increased soil salinity – a death knell for agriculture.
The water flow has been so badly weakened that the salt water of the Arabian Gulf has begun to flow further inland, further damaging Iraq’s soil.
Iraq’s neighbour to the east, meanwhile, has also been the source of damaging water policies. Iran has stymied the flow of the Shatt al-Arab river by digging canals to the Bahmanshir tributary, leading to not only a 90 percent drop in water, but also a shifting of the international border by affecting the Shatt’s dividing thalweg line in favour of Iran.
Such is the level of distress in Iraq at its receding water supplies that the authorities in Baghdad – ordinarily very friendly to Iran – announced in January this year that they would seek legal action against Iran to compel it to respect international treaties.
The thalweg line in the Shatt was one of the key causes behind the Iran-Iraq War in 1980. While there is little chance that Iraq will be able to militarily prosecute a war to secure its borders now, this water and border issue may be the spark of a future conflict between the two uneasy neighbours.
Domestic political impasse continues
Iraq’s political impasse continues as last October’s election winners have continued to fail to form a new government, following staunch resistance from a coalition of rival Shia Islamists who are hesitant to give up their share of power.
Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc won last year’s election, has presided over multiple attempts to form a majority government but has failed to realise his ambitions.
This led him to declare last Sunday on Twitter that his bloc would cede the ground to the other opposition parties to try and form a government, and that his Sairoun coalition will instead sit in the opposition for “no less than 30 days”.
"The longer Iraq stays in political paralysis, the greater the fury felt by Iraqis will be, particularly as the water crisis worsens, summer temperatures cause tempers to flare, and food prices skyrocket"
In a televised address on Monday, a visibly frustrated Sadr accused the “obstructing third” of Iraqi parliamentarians – largely a coalition of pro-Iran Shia Islamists – of being susceptible to “corruption and vice” and blamed them for not allowing the Iraqi people to have a strong, majority government.
Sadr also hinted that he may, once again, call on his supporters to descend on the streets of Iraqi cities to demonstrate.
More than seven months since the last elections, Iraq is still under a caretaker government led by incumbent Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
However, Kadhimi’s government is powerless to do much beyond administering the civil functions of the state. The Iraqi Supreme Federal Court ruled last week that the caretaker government would not be allowed to pursue a legislative agenda and would instead
This means that, despite numerous promises of change, Iraqis are once again faced with a political quandary that has seen politicians bickering over ministries and clerics dictating the terms of an Iraqi democracy that has many of the trappings of a Shia theocracy.
Ultimately, it seems likely that they will come to some sort of concession, even if Sadr continuously rules out forming a coalition government. The longer Iraq stays in political paralysis, the greater the fury felt by Iraqis will be, particularly as the water crisis worsens, summer temperatures cause tempers to flare, and food prices skyrocket.
If a new government with a new legislative agenda is not in office soon and, most importantly, is not viewed by Iraqis to be initiating policies that will reduce the terrible burdens that they have been facing since 2003, there is a high chance we may yet witness yet another violent summer.
The Iraq Report is a regular feature at The New Arab.
Click here to see the full archive.
Click here to see the full archive.
No comments:
Post a Comment