+++ Mesopotamia Ecology Movement +++ Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive +++ Disaster Flood in the Tigris – Made by a Turkish Dam Press Release, 19.12.2018 On the evening of the 13th December 2018 one of the three spillway gates of the Dicle Dam at the Tigris River in Turkish-Kurdistan has broken. Since then the water...
The Mesopotamian Water Forum is an alternative civil society forum for water, an open space to give voice to those who are marginalized and excluded from the discussion about water management in the Mesopotamian region. It will be held from 6-8 April 2019 in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and will involve civil society actors...
Farmers in the Al-Badeer region from Kut province depend on water from the Euphrates River. Water shortages this year have caused massive damage to agricultural areas, drastically impacting the livelihood of farmers in the region. The Al-Diwaniyah Forum for Environment and Peace is currently working on this water scarcity crisis. The Forum’s campaign aims to...
On 17 October 2018, a civil society Fact-Finding Team revealed serious human rights violations against citizens in Basra for their participation in this past summer’s protests. These findings correspond with Iraq’s High Commission for Human Rights, which found that between 1 August and 7 September, 20 people were killed, 492 people were injured (including 80...
20 passionate youth activists from cities along the Euphrates River have established a network of Humat Al-Forat, “Euphrates Protectors”, a new offshoot of Humat Dijlah (Tigris Protectors) Organisation. From 2-3 November in Nasiriyah these activists from Basra, Hilla, Najaf, Nasiriyah and Anbar gathered together with youth from Amara, Diyala to announce the formation of their...
Human security requires environmental security Joint statement on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, November 6 2018 Original statement here Today, our group of concerned civil society organisations, which includes academics, experts and scientists, are calling for the international community to enhance the protection of people...
The New Arab, 3 November 2018 Iraqi fish farmers south of Baghdad have been left reeling after finding thousands of dead carp mysteriously floating in their cages or washed up on the banks of the Euphrates. Piles of the dead silvery fish, along with a few car tyres and plastic bags, could be seen on...
In March 2018 a North-South exchange between Iraqi and Kurdish water activists took place in Southern Iraq with a Kurdish delegation touring the Marshlands. This fostered new collaboration between environmental groups in Kurdistan Region and in the Center/South of Iraq. In September, this visit was reciprocated with a visit to Sulaymaniyah Governorate by activists from...
World Cleanup Day, 15 September, saw the launch of a new campaign by volunteers of the Peace Forum in Ramadi. They plan to defend Euphrates River against pollution, and they have joined up with the Ramadi Police Directorate, Ramadi Municipality and Anbar Environment Directorate, all of whom have shown spectacular support for the campaign thus...
The Alyahodia River is a large branch of the Euphrates after the city of Al-Hindiya, also known as the Babylon Channel. In the past, its banks housed an intersection of cultures and religions which formed a thriving and integrated community. The original name of the river, Judaism River, dates back to 550 BC when Jewish...
