PM:03:55:25/03/2023
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SULAIMANI — Iraq has become the first Middle Eastern nation
and the 49th party to join the UN Water Convention, the UN Economic Commission
for Europe said on Friday (March 24).
The UNECE said in a statement that the 237 million people
residing in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria depend on the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers as essential sources of water.
The UN Water Convention provides an "intergovernmental
framework, which aims to ensure the sustainable use of transboundary water
resources by facilitating cooperation across borders,” the UNECE said.
According to the organization, only 60 percent of Iraqis
have access to safe drinking water and the four countries in the Tigris and
Euphrates river basin compete for the water supply in industry, hydropower,
drinking water, irrigation and the environment.
Iraq has been facing water trouble for years and the
Minister of Water Resources, Aoun Diab, said on March 15 that Turkey is
building 20 more dams on water resources that are the main source of Iraq's
river.
The World Bank has cited Iraq as one of the countries most
vulnerable to desertification and climate change.
The UNECE states "transboundary cooperation” is essential to
manage the country’s threatened water resources amid the pressure from rising
temperatures and low rainfall that puts a strain on the diminishing water
supply.
(NRT Digital Media)