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...
Alessandro Tinti, 26 February 2020 Instituto per gli studi di politica internazionale, Milan, Italy “We are the people of Mesopotamia, one of the most remarkable areas of the world, known as the cradle of civilization. We are the people of Hasankeyf in Turkey and of the Marshes in Iraq. We are connected and combined by...
Statement by Save the Tigris Campaign, 12 October 2019 On 9 October, Turkey started a military offensive in northeast Syria. A move which will have disastrous consequences for the region. This armed conflict will have a direct impact on populations, ecosystem and post-conflict recovery of the area. Concerns mount of a humanitarian catastrophe. Water is...
It’s been one year since the city of Basra was rocked by large-scale protests following a major pollution crisis in which citizens decried the lack of access to fresh water and services. Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch released an extensive report on the crisis. One year onward, Save the Tigris Campaign traveled to the...
Following years of neglect under the Assad regime and the struggle against Daesh, North-East Syria continues to be plagued by water scarcity. Overconsumption from the Turkish side of the border has reduced supplies to the area. Since agriculture is the main source of income for the local population, they rely heavily on water. In addition,...
ِAL-MONITOR BY: Adnan Abu Zeed Young boys stand on the banks of the Euphrates River near an ancient water wheel. Hit, Iraq, Dec. 1, 2018. Iraq has been working for the last three months to rehabilitate its historical norias in Hit, a city located in western Iraq on the banks of the upper Euphrates River. The Iraqi government aims...
Press Statement by Save the Tigris Campaign The following resolution submitted by Save the Tigris Campaign. was adopted by the World Heritage Watch NGO Forum prior to the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan, 30 June – 10 July 2019. The 7th International NGO Forum on World Heritage at Risk...
On 14 March of every year, millions of people around the world raise their voices to highlight those struggling to protect the earth’s rivers for International Day of Action for Rivers, and on 22 March, they turn their attention to all the world’s water for World Water Day. This year, local social forums joined with...
Herewith the final declaration of the 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum, which was held on April 6-8, 2019 in Sulaimani (Sulaymaniyah) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. More than 180 water activists from the Mesopotamia region and other countries gathered for the 3-day forum at Sulaimani University. Several civil society organizations from all over Mesopotamia –...
Omar Sattar, Al-Monitor, 5 April 2019 BAGHDAD — Although water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have been rising as torrential rains fill some of the largest dams in Iraq, the threat of drought persists. Turkey is now taking the necessary steps to fill its controversial Ilisu Dam, while Iran continues to cut off tributaries of the rivers flowing...
