The Shatt al-Arab river is the lifeline of southern #Iraq. Yet, wars, poor governance and oil spills have exacerbated pollution and public health concerns, fuelling protest and ecological activism. Here's what @wammez and @MahaalGhareeb found: bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020…
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb Agricultural areas around #Basra have suffered immensely from decades of conflict, which has destroyed date palms and damaged marshlands. Furthermore, #climatecrisis induced salinisation impacts fertility and soil quality in the region, destroying farmers' livelihoods. 
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb After southern Iraq's 2018 health crisis, promises were made to improve the situation and provide clean water. Yet little has changed. Sewage and oil spills into the upstream #Euphrates and #Tigris rivers continue. The country's water infrastructure remains in a poor state.
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb Furthermore, leaking ships and shipwrecks have affected water quality. This summer, water filtration stations in Basra were shut down; heavy rains flooded the oilfields, filling rivers with oil waste, inundating marshes and agricultural areas.
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb In various towns and cities across southern #Iraq, people are sharing videos and images on social media of sewage being dumped directly into local rivers, or broken waste water pipelines flooding land near the outskirts of #Basra.
@wammez @MahaalGhareeb Local activists aren't just taking to the streets, they're documenting Basra's ecological woes by sharing images on social media. We combined them with high resolution satellite imagery and public reports to document the crisis. Read our findings here: bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020…
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