Farmers and experts warn Iraq’s historic rivers are vanishing, threatening survival, identity and stability.
Iraq, once known as Mesopotamia, the “Land of the Two Rivers”, is facing its worst water crisis in living memory. The Tigris and Euphrates — lifelines of agriculture and civilisation for millennia — are running dry. Climate change, upstream dams and decades of mismanagement have turned fertile land into dust, forcing families from their homes and threatening national stability. Talk to Al Jazeera travels to southern Iraq to hear from farmers, environmentalists and officials about a crisis that could decide the country’s future.
Published On 7 Sep 2025
