Rubbish fills a fetid canal in Basra. Photo: Holly Pickett/The New York Times
“The Shatt al-Arab, the river that flows from the biblical site of the Garden of Eden to the Persian Gulf, has turned into an environmental and economic disaster that Iraq’s newly democratic government is almost powerless to fix.
“Withered by decades of dictatorial mismanagement and then neglect, by drought and the thirst of Iraq’s neighbours, the river formed by the convergence of the Tigris and the Euphrates no longer has the strength to keep the sea at bay.
“Last year, for the first time in memory, saltwater extended beyond Basra, Iraq’s biggest port city, and even Qurna, where the two rivers meet. It has ravaged freshwater fisheries, livestock, crops and groves of date palms that once made the area famous, forcing the migration of tens of thousands of farmers.”
read more: New York Times
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