Iraq faces a profound and growing shortage of clean water. Climate change, upstream damming, and rising demand are drastically reducing the volume of freshwater in the Tigris and Euphrates river systems—the nation’s hydrological lifelines. This physical scarcity is exacerbated by a largely unseen crisis: the large-scale contamination of these dwindling resources with untreated wastewater. Iraq’s […]
Category: Reports
#39: Can Drip Irrigation Save Farming in Iraq?
After a long hiatus, we are thrilled to relaunch the IRAQ MATTERS podcast, dedicated to exploring the issues that matter most to the people of Iraq. For our return, we shift the focus from the political headlines to a quieter, yet more existential, crisis: the growing scarcity of water that threatens the very cradle of civilization. In […]
Reflection, Reconciliation, and Reconstruction
As nearly one million people remain displaced from Mosul and its surroundings, a plan to reconcile differences and rebuild cooperatively is critical for breaking the cycle of violence in Iraq. Our recent publications cover past lessons that may be useful in shaping Iraq’s future…
Our Report from Mosul and More…
Our recent publications focus on Iraq’s most immediate humanitarian needs, the importance of strong U.S. and international commitment to peace and reconstruction, and the urgency of supporting political moderates who can carry Iraq forward.
Fallujah Occupation Timeline, 2015-2016
This timeline contains chronological reports of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) occupation of Fallujah, with a focus on humanitarian concerns, food insecurity, and civilian resistance to occupying ISIS forces. While the majority of these reports come from our weekly Iraq Security and Humanitarian Monitor publication, several supplementary reports have been added as […]
ISIS’s Chemical Weapons Attack on Civilians in Iraq: an Eyewitness Report on the Aftermath
Within days of the 28th anniversary of the chemical weapons attack on the residents of Halabja in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region – which a 1991 Human Rights Watch investigation called “the single largest chemical weapons attack against a civilian population in the world” – we are monitoring reports of chemical weapons once again being used against […]
SPECIAL REPORT: Out in the Cold
By Cathy Otten, photography Jacob Russell [wppa type=”cover” album=”2″][/wppa] ERBIL, SULAYMANIYAH, December 3, 2013: When the rains started at the beginning of November, creating streams of mud, Amoud Mohamed found herself fighting to keep her tent dry. “During the rain the tent was moving, at night we couldn’t sleep because of the rain and the wind,” […]
Syria’s Forgotten Victims
Recently, much of the coverage of the Syrian civil war has focused on the two million refugees who have fled the country since the onset of the war. While this issue deserves all of the attention it receives, another issue which has been largely absent from the media coverage of the Syrian war is the […]
My World 2015: Why the UN’s Development Goals are Important for Iraq
With the timeframe for the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals set to come to a close in 2015, the UN and its partners have launched a global survey called MY World 2015 where people can vote on the next development goals they think the UN should focus on next. While it is hard to gauge […]
Remembering the Fall of Baghdad
Many of you remember the moment like it was yesterday. For me, I was in the DC studios of FoxNews preparing to face off with one of the war’s cheerleaders. On screen was live footage from Baghdad’s Firdos Square. Beginning with Kadhem Sharif and other Iraqis wielding sledgehammers, an effort was underway to pull down […]