The head of human rights UNVolker Turk, said on Wednesday that the extreme summer heat and pollution of southern Iraqwhere he has been visiting, have made it clear that the era of global boil”.
Turk made the remarks at the end of a four-day visit to Iraq during which he met with authorities and toured the country, sometimes in 50-degree heat, to talk about human rights, focusing on climate change.
“Standing in blistering heat in that scarred landscape, breathing air polluted by the many gas flares that dot the region, it became clear to me that the era of global boiling has begun.”he said at a news conference in Baghdad, referring to his stay in the oil-producing Basra region of southern Iraq.
According to the United Nations, Iraq is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change.
A reduction in rainfall combined with mismanagement of water resources has led to years of persistent drought, with the lowest water levels ever recorded this year, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.
Iraq’s two main rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, flow through the country and gave rise to some of the world’s earliest civilizations thousands of years ago, but are now too weak to support the agriculture that once flourished on its banks.
“What is happening here is a window into a looming future for other parts of the world if we continue to fail in our responsibility to take preventative and mitigative action against climate change”Turk stated.
Source: Reuters
Source: Gestion
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