Environmental issues in Iraq

Iraq is the fifth most vulnerable country to the effects of climate change,[1] subject to oil spills, pollution, land degradation, and poor management of upstream water sources.

[2] Numerous spills have resulted from damage to Iraq’s oil infrastructure, and the lack of water treatment facilities at Iraqi refineries has led to pollution from those installations.

Recent development of oil production in the Kurdistan region of Iraq has affected soil and water quality, specifically in the Duhok Governorate.

The wartime destruction of military and industrial infrastructure has released heavy metals and other hazardous substances into the air, soil, and groundwater.

Under Saddam Hussein, the government constructed the Glory Canal which drained the extensive marshes in the lower reaches of the alluvial plain, changing water circulation and wildlife patterns over a wide area.

Although the interim government appointed in 2004 included a Ministry of Environment, long-term environmental crises such as the depletion of marshland in the Shatt al Arab have a low priority.