GNV News, 8 May 2026

The wetlands located in the southern part of Iraq have been blessed with rainfall from the winter of 2025 to the spring of 2026 and are recovering from a long-term drought. In southern Iraq, there are four main wetlands: Hawizeh, Central, East Hammar, and West Hammar. At the time when the four wetlands as a whole were at their driest, their surface water area was about 8% of that at full flooding, but thanks to the recent rains it has recovered to about 32–36% of the flooded area.
Among them, the recovery of the Hawizeh Marsh is particularly notable, with water levels restored to about 85%.

These wetlands are fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and are said to be the land of the Garden of Eden. Reeds and papyrus grow there, and the area is home to many endangered species and serves as a stopover for migratory birds, so it is registered under the Ramsar Convention to conserve the wetlands and their flora and fauna at this site. When it rains from winter to spring, the wetlands are filled by river floods; however, during the dry season from June to September, temperatures can reach 50°C, causing the wetlands to dry and contract.

Even before the recent drought that has continued since around 2020, the wetlands had already faced crises. In the 1990s, under Saddam Hussein’s regime, the wetlands were deliberately drained in order to wipe out the Shia Muslim population in the area. At that time, about 90% of the wetlands dried up. After that, water levels were gradually trending toward recovery.

During the drought that has plagued the region for roughly six years since around 2020, fish and birds have drastically declined, and there have been mass deaths of water buffalo, which are an important type of livestock in the region. Furthermore, as water volume decreases, salinity rises, and pollutants flowing into the wetlands remain untreated, accelerating the collapse of the ecosystem. The cause of this drought can be attributed to the fact that Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, that is not the only reason: construction of dams on the upper reaches and tributaries of the major rivers that feed these wetlands has also been cited as a cause of the drought. Water resources have become a source of dispute with Turkey, Iran, and Syria, which share the rivers.

With this recovery, the cracked wetlands have been replenished, and farmers, fishers, and water buffalo herders who had fled due to the drought are gradually returning to the area.
However, the region now also faces environmental pollution and health damage caused by oil field development, which have become serious problems. Although water levels have temporarily recovered, improving water resource management infrastructure will be essential for full restoration.

Learn more about Iraq → “Iraq: Can It Recover from a Series of Crises?”

Learn more about issues surrounding water → “Water Conflicts Around the World: The Untold Facts”

(Photo: Luca Spadini / Flickr [CC BY NC-2.0]