One year ago in April 2019, the 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum was held in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. More than 180 water activists from the Mesopotamia region and other countries gathered for 3 days of workshops and discussions on dams, pollution, democratic water management, and released a declaration. A landmark event for...
In 2016 the Iraqi Marshes were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Ahwar. Each year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee reviews reports on the state of conservation of the property and follows up with the State Party of Iraq in case it is not properly managed. Iraq’s 2020 State of...
Baghdad, 12 December 2019 Salman Kairallah Al-Mansoori and Omar Kadhem Al-Amri, two Iraqi activists for human and environmental rights, have disappeared in Baghdad since yesterday and are still untraceable. They disappeared at 12 pm when they did not answer the calls of their colleagues, friends and family. The last contact with them was at 11:30,...
Civil Society Society Statement, 10 December 2019 In the context of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP25 Madrid On behalf of 276 civil society organizations from around the world, we are calling upon the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to abandon the certification of destructive hydropower projects as climate-friendly. The proposed hydropower criteria developed by CBI...
International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, 6 November 2019 The international community needs to take bold actions before, during and after armed conflicts to protect people and the environment. That is the call being made today by 102 NGOs and experts from 33 countries to mark the...
On 27 July 2019, the Alamara Council for Social Cohesion held a joint session with the Environment and Water masar (Path) of the Iraqi Social Forum to discuss issues relating to the environment and tourism in the city of Amara in Maysan Province. The session opened with an introduction to the work of the Council:...
Statement by Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf and Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, 14 July 2019 Successful “Big Jump” actions for Hasankeyf and Tigris River! Resistance continues against Ilisu Dam! Following a call by the Initiative to Keep Alive (HYG) and the Mesopotamia Ecology Movement (MEM) for the “Big Jump” ecology activists in Hasankeyf, Turkey and the world...
Humat Dijlah Association (Tigris River Protectors) – the Iraqi partner for Save the Tigris Campaign – and a wide range of Iraqi civil society organizations, movements, and individuals (signed below) address the Turkish Government to abandon the decision to flood the Ilisu Dam because of the serious environmental effects that will affect directly on Iraq....
With the filling of the Ilisu Dam reservoir imminent, the annual session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) in Baku, Azerbaijan was an important opportunity to address the key threats to the Iraqi Marshes with policymakers. Minimum water flows to the heritage site have not been met in the past 2 years. Since dam...
Commentary by Josh Klemm on 1 July 2019 for Mongabay This July represents a critical opportunity to protect rivers and the World Heritage sites that depend on them. Key government leaders will converge on Baku, Azerbaijan for the 43rd annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee this week. Established under the auspices of the United...
