Kurdistan rain up to 4.12.2013امطار كوردستان لغاية.ئه مسال تاكوو4.12 باران باريوه.

حروب المياه قادمه......من دون شك!!!

طالب مراد

هولير 

11.12.2013

ووفقا  للاحصائيات الصادرة من  منظمة  الاغذية والزراعة "الفاو" فانه يوجد 11 مليار دونم (الدونم العراقي يعادل 2500 متر مربع) من الاراضي الزراعية على سطح الكرة الارضية ، واكدت  ان 7 مليارات منها مستغلة حتى  الان، واكثر من 4 مليارات من الاراضي الزراعية غير المستغلة و جاهزة للبيع او الايجار لمدد طويلة الاجل من قبل الدول الغنية والتي توجد عندها صعوبة في الحصول على الغذاء من اراضيها.

ومن الجدير بالذكر أن العالم يضم اراضٍ زراعية تقدر مساحتها  بشكل اكثر  من كميات المياه العذبة. ومن هذا المنطلق اصبحت المياه اداة للضغط و”الهيمنة المائية” من قبل دول المنابع على الدول المتشاطئة  ودول المصبات، ومن المتوقع دون شك ستزداد الصراعات والحروب بسبب المياه ..ومن اوائل المناطق المرشحة لخوض تلك الصراعات  وحرب  المياه في العالم وادي النيل ودجلة .. لذلك المشكلة تتمثل فى ربط الاراضى الزراعية بالمياه العذبة المحدودة و هنا نقف امام تحدٍ اخر وهو تضاعف اعداد السكان بعد ثلاثين عاما .مما يجعل جميع الدول تفكر فى تحقيق الامن الغذائى.و تشير بعض الدراسات ان عام 2040 و هو العام الذي سيشهد جفا ف دجلة ويسبقه الفرات بسنوات.

ووفقا لتقرير لإحدى المنظمات الدولية (كرين-الحبوب ) ان نحو (227) مليون هكتار(حوالي مليار دونم) فى العالم قد تم "الاستحواذ" عليها منذ عام 2000. إما بشرائها من الدول فقيرة  واقيمت عليها مشروعات عملاقه تحتاج الى الكثير من المياه لزراعتها. حاليا هناك هجمة شرسة من قبل الدول الخليجية و الصين والهند وصناديق التقاعد الاوروبية على اثيوبيا وكينيا والسودان ويوغندا للحصول على ارض زراعية مما يؤثر بالسلب على مياه النيل .

وتعد أزمة المياه في الشرق الأوسط ليست جديدة والدراسات العلمية تتوقع زيادة هذه الأزمة نتيجة عوامل التصحر والتغيّر المناخي من جهة، وزيادة السكان وبالتالي زيادة الطلب على المياه من جهة أخرى  و استماتت  الدول الخليجية الصحراوية على الاستحواذ على الاراضي الزراعية من منابع انهار النيل ودجلة والفرات " الاستعمار الجديد الزراعي".

يُذكر  ان كل مليون شخص يحتاج لمليار متر مكعب من الماء سنويا  ومصر بملايينها التسعين  نسمة ستحصل على 42 مليار متر مكعب سنويا من الماء علما بان 96% من اراضي مصر صحراوية قليلة الامطار ،اما العراقيون حتى الان يحصلون على نصف احتياجاتهم المائية من الانهار ومما يساعدهم هو ان الامطار المتساقطة على العراق والتي لايعتمد عليها كثيرا خاصة في السنوات الاخيرة.

وفي ظل ما تقوم به  الدول الخليجية- وبتشجيع وسمسرة تركية- الاستحواذ على اراضي زراعية في جنوب شرقي تركيا,  كما استحوذت  ومازالت تستحوذ على مساحات شاسعة من الاراضي الزراعية  في دول منابع النيل مثل اثيوبيا وكينيا والسودان وغيرها. ان الظاهرة الاستعمارية هذه  ستؤدي الى الاستحواذ على المياه لري الاراضي الزراعية المسلوبة وستؤدي الى جفاف نهري دجلة والفرات والنيل.

لذا يجب ادانة الاستحواذ على الاراضي الزراعية ومياه الغير وستتفاقم المشكلة دوليا وتسبب حروبا بين الشعوب وتهديد السلام العالمي وستؤدي دون شك الى تدخل الامم المتحدة لمنعها وتحريمها كما منعت ممارسات كثيرة خلال الستين عاما  من عمرها...... لاسيما ان "المياه ليست سلعة للتبادل  كما يدعي الاتراك بل هى حق من حقوق الانسان فى الحياة ولا يجب ان تتحكم فيها دولة على حساب أخرى. خاصة  ان الامن الغذائى والمياه والارض الزراعية عناصر مرتبطة بعضها البعض تكمل كل واحدة منها الاخرى. والا اصبح مصير البشرية هباءا منثورا".http://alakhbaar.org/home/2013/12/159106.html

http://www.sotaliraq.com/mobile-item.php?id=148993#axzz2n6RVwwz8

CCHF-INDIA -مرض حمى القرم في الهند

CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC  FEVER - INDIA: (GUJARAT),

*****************************************************************************

A ProMED-mail post

Date: 4 Dec 2013

Source: The Indian Express [edited]

<http://www.indianexpress.com/news/congo-fever-outbreak-in-state-doubles-this-year/1202997/>

Outbreaks of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever [CCHF] seem to have

doubled in Gujarat, the 1st state to have reported the prevalence of

this tick-borne viral disease in the country.

In the last 3 years [2011-2013] alone, there have been 30 positive

cases and 14 deaths due to CCHF, half of which were reported in a

cattle-rearing community known as the Bharwads, stated experts who

participated in the day-long conference "Healthy Gujarat: Agenda For

Action," organised by the Gujarat Health and Family Welfare Department

on Tuesday [3 Dec 2013].

"The 1st instance of CCHF was detected in Kolat village near Ahmedabad

in January 2011. That year, there were 4 outbreaks of CCHF. The year

2012 was reportedly milder, with 2 outbreaks. However, in 2013, there

were as many as 8 outbreaks," said Dr Kamlesh Upadhyay, a professor in

the Department of Medicine at Ahmedabad-based BJ Medical College &

Civil Hospital.

"In the last 3 years, there have been 30 positive cases of virus

infection, 50 percent of which are from the Bharwad community," added

Upadhyay, who was speaking on the topic of "Disease Burden" of

Gujarat. "Today, there are 14 sites in Gujarat from where CCHF has

been reported," he said.

Turkey will make our rivers run dry.

Talib Murad Elam

1.12.2013

I was not invited to last week’s Strategic Foresight Group’s Blue Peace meeting in Jordon but that comes as no surprise to me because when, at the Blue Peace meeting in Istanbul in March, I queried why there was no Arabic translation available for the numerous representatives of the Arabic media, I was curtly told by Sundeep Waslekar, founder of the Strategic Foresight Group “We are not interested in what you have to say!” It left me with the distinct  feeling that I had thrown a stone in Mr. Waslekar’s mosque.

I have no doubt that I raised awkward issues at the Istanbul meeting and the previous one in London last year and that this caused some concern amongst the others present.  However I believe that it is essential that one must have full transparency in discussions such as these and there was no reference being made to the extent of the reduction in water flow to Iraq because of the dam construction in Turkey. Furthermore while Turkey claimed that it needed water for its increasing needs there was no reference to the fact that Turkey had offered thousands of hectares of the land that could be irrigated by the water that would otherwise flow into Iraq to the Gulf States to ensure their food security. In a nutshell Turkey would sell food security to the Gulf while depriving Iraq of water. I raised this point in Istanbul and when I said 1.6 million hectares of and was on offer, the Turkish delegate Mr. Dogan  said  ‘No you are wrong , it is 1.2 million hectares!’

 The Gulf media reported that the Turkish Minister for Agriculture, Mehdi Akar, on a visit to the Gulf in 2009 said, ‘Choose and take what you want.’ This led to criticism that Turkey was allowing neocolonialism and yet another view is that it is land grab with the real aim of controlling water. The Gulf States’ investments in Turkey were the subject of a report on Turkey by the Oxford Business Group in 2012 which can be purchased. The report identifies Qatar’s Hassad Food as wanting to purchase thousands of hectares in Turkey for livestock and crop production and states that Turkey is a major recipient of Saudi investment in agriculture as KSA endeavours to purchase its food security. In 2011 KSA applied to the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) to set up a 1 million head sheep farm while Bahrain, Kuwait and Italy are also stated as being interested in obtaining land while various foreign hedge fund investors are buying land.

In 2010 Turkey passed new laws that could allow foreign nationals to buy parcels of land up to 99,000 sq meters while citizens of Iran, Syria, KSA and the Gulf States could buy land with no size limit. At the same time the duration for which foreigners could use the land was increased from 99 years to ‘indefinite’. This news was published by the Isreal National News on 28.11.2010 because Isreali, and Greek citizens were barred from purchasing Turkish land! Perhaps we should discover if Iraqis can buy Turkish land.

 Turkey views water as a commodity that can be bought or sold as confirmed by its ex prime minister and repeated in these Blue Peace meetings. Indeed the Turks can be said to be using this organization as a platform to air their controversial views without opposition. 

Turkey is not regarded as a water-rich country by world standards as it has about 1,600 cu.meters of water per capita while on the global scale water-rich countries have 8,000 – 10,000 cu. meters per capita. However the country has more water than its neighbours in the region and in the past Turkey has advertised its willingness to sell water in bulk to its neighbours, (www.merip.org, report no.MER254, pub. 2010), and in 2010 Turkey was using only 41% of its water flow. The country has heavily invested in dams over the decades and water is used to generate hydroelectric power in addition to domestic and agricultural usage. In the 1970’s it embarked on the Southern Anatolian Project (GAP) involving 22 dams, 19 hydroelectric power plants and several irrigation networks at a cost of tens of billions of dollars. In 2010 some 57% of the cost of GAP had been achieved and Turkey was claiming that the agricultural developments generated by the project would create job opportunities for the people of the predominantly Kurdish population of the south east. However what cannot be overlooked is the destruction of Kurdish villages and displacement of the inhabitants as the flood waters rise behind the dams. This displacement of its Kurdish citizens cannot be overlooked as an answer to the state’s Kurdish problem!

In the 1980’s UN organisations and international think tanks were established to promote ‘integrated water resources management’ that were not based on sovereignty and political boundaries but on hydrological realities. This was not welcomed by upstream countries such as Turkey which receives 31% of its waters from the Tigris and Euphrates. The springs and runoffs in Turkey supply 89% of the Euphrates flow (Syria supplies 11%) and 52% of the water in the Tigris with the rest coming from Iraq. 

The Turkish government is determined to maintain its hold on what it perceives as a Turkish commodity and fought hard on the international front to maintain the principle of sovereignty in water law. In 1997, together with China and Burundi, Turkey refused to sign the UN’s Framework Convention of the Non Navigational Uses of Transboundary Water Resources. Turkey has always disliked the term of ‘water sharing’ and believes that ’ it is not a useful approach, as one cannot share a commodity which is constantly changing in quantity and quality in time and space under variable conditions of the hydrological cycle. Instead, the principle of sharing the benefits at basin level should be pursued.’ 

The conflict within Iraq has allowed Turkey to reduce the water flowing into Iraq and in 2009 Istanbul hosted the Fifth World Water Forum, which is the biggest global think tank and which organizes gatherings every three years in those countries that have significant water resources or embrace water privatisation. Turkey’s water is owned by the government but private companies manage the water services and, in a world where the big water companies, backed by the IMF and the World Bank , are involved in huge public relations campaigns against ‘irresponsible water use’ then companies promoting water conservation are only one step away from announcing ‘ conservation of a resource comes at a price’. I find myself asking, what will be the price Iraq pays?

Earlier this month Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani at a meeting with Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutogluas, who was on a two day visit to Iraq complained about Turkey’s dam construction and reduction in flow of the Euphrates and Tigris. The Ayatollah said that Iraqis were suffering from water shortages and that the issue should be solved through bilateral mechanisms and, if necessary, through UN arbitration. The Ayatollah is correct and, when it comes to meetings of foresight groups such as the Blue Peace, Iraq should be represented by those at a Ministerial level and technocrats and not by anyone who is happy to have a few days abroad and the chance of getting their name in a report.

It is time for the governments in Baghdad and Erbil to wake up to what is going on and to do something to safeguard our water supplies. Turkey has now achieved a supply of oil/gas from Iraq, it already has a lucrative market here for its agricultural produce and it is but a short step to sell us the water that once freely flowed into our country.

I was told by the prime minister office in Baghdad that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for Iraq’s water file.

Concrete replacing pasture in Kurdistan?

Talib Murad Elam

22.11.2013

I was working in Somalia during the last decade of Siad Barre’s regime and remained there until the American forces left in 1996. In 1988 I found myself in charge of an  FAO project to train Somali pastoralist nomads in primary animal healthcare and I had a close association with the trainees. The 40 trainees were from different areas of Somalia and were mixture of men and women. A second program followed to train village women to humanely castrate small ruminants (i.e. lambs and kids) so that the animals were accepted by the importers in the Gulf States. The women were supplied with a castration tool (burdizzo) free of charge allowing them to provide the service to fellow villagers and the pastoralists.

 I became familiar with the social structure and way of life of the Somali and learned that the Somali pastoralists were not attached to any one area of land and they regarded the ‘Jerrar’ ( Kinky hair), a small group of indigenous farmers living along the banks of the Shabelee and Juba rivers of Somalia, as second class citizens. There were only pastoralist nomads in the north and middle of Somalia and the Jerrar frequently came to the FAO offices in Mogadishu during the war for handouts of crop seeds which they would plant. However they often lost the crop to the livestock of pastoralists who would release their animals onto the Jerrars’ fields and this naturally caused further tensions between the farmers and pastoralists and naturally the indigenous farmers were the losers. They also lost out on the wider scale with the IOM and UNHCR because although tens of thousands of Somalis reached western countries to receive and manipulate the benefit systems there the Jerrar are not among them.

 North Somalia had been colonized by the British while the South had been under Italian rule and the Somalis did not fight for independence yet in the 1960s both north and south gained independence from the colonial powers within a short period of time.  Now, fifty years later, the country is divided into several distinct regions or states and its people are mainly nomadic pastoralists, united by language and religion, nevertheless this most homogenized nation in the world is also the most divided nation in the world. This has nothing to do with clans, districts or regions but lies in their way of living as nomadic pastoralists giving them no ties to the land itself while envying each other is normal in nomadic pastoralist communities all over the world.

 Somalia’s neighbour, Kenya, is a nation of different tribes (not clans), some with different languages and distinct differences in appearance, who were united together in their country and the Somalia UN agencies and NGOs all had offices in Nairobi. The electricity supply in Somalia was, to say the least, erratic and expatriates facing another evening with no electricity would often spend their time discussing the day’s events and the nature of the Somali people. During such evenings the conclusion that was often made was that the Somalis were not tied to their land as other nations were because they moved across the land with their grazing animals and there was no strong link to any particular area. The bond of the Somali to their land is much weaker than the bond existing between members of the clan. I am not an anthropologist but I remember reading about the Mongolian hordes that repeatedly conquered most of Asia but failed to establish government or administration across the vast lands they had subjugated. The Mongolians, like the Somali, were pastoralist nomads and to me there are many similarities in the way in which both regarded the lands through which they moved.

Recently I have been thinking of the fate of the land of Kurdistan. Here the traditional way of life in the mountains is that of the nomadic pastoralists (kooch) who spend their winter in the valleys and move into the mountains with their flocks in the spring and summer. Many young kurdish intellectuals today blame Britain, Persia or the Ottomans for the lack of a Kurdish state yet perhaps there is a reason for it that is linked to our very nature. If we consider the Bedouin who struggle to keep livestock in their arid homelands and our traditional farmers/livestock owners whose flocks have good grazing in the fertile land then there is a different attitude to the land.

 In Egypt farmers will shed blood over the rights to one Kierat of agriculture land (175 sqm) yet here in Kurdistan prime agricultural land is readily exchanged for dollars to buy a taxi, a kebab shop or anything else other than a farm. It seems that we do not have that strong a tie to the land our poets and singers praise and quite simply we could be said to exhibit the characteristics of an ancient group of nomadic pastoralists.  Most of the young Kurds of today wearing their city suits and driving  their Mercedes will argue and deny this theory but they are selling land, if own some, to the highest bidders yet a visit to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Land Department reveals the true relation between Kurds and the land. The excuse of most of them is that they cannot live on what the land can produce yet this is not true and they do not want to recognise that the bond between them and the land is feeble, it has not been acquired lately but it is an attitude that has been inherited down generations.

Every month more and more of Kurdistan’s agricultural land is sold off and lost to agriculture. It is taken for ‘industrial development’ that more often than not results in the land being divided into small plots for a villa and a well while much disappears under concrete and roads. Gradually Kurdistan’s seven plains, that for centuries supported livestock and produced grain, are slowly and irrevocably disappearing under concrete and the villas of the wealthy while the riches promised by oil beckon and we rush to embrace a new life with no care for the land itself and the inheritance of future generations.

زراعة النيابية تتهم وزارة الموارد المائية بإهدار مياه الأمطار-المدى

انتقد أعضاء في لجنة الزراعة والمياه والأهوار النيابية، يوم أمس السبت(16.11.2013)، عدم إقامة سدود وخزانات جديدة في العراق منذ عشرات السنين للاستفادة من المياه المتجمعة بسبب الأمطار وعدم هدرها،
واتهموا الجهات المسؤولة عن الملف باعتماد طرق "بدائية" في الري تتسب بفقدان غالبية مخزونات العراق من المياه، في حين أكدت وزارة الموارد المائية ان منشآتها قادرة على استيعاب كميات الأمطار الحالية، وكشفت عن سعيها لتطبيق خطة تبدأ من نهاية العام 2014 المقبل لبناء سدود جديدة.
وقال عضو لجنة الزراعة النيابية جمال البطيخ، في حديث إلى (المدى برس)، إن "العراق لم يبن أي سد منذ عشرات السنين برغم الحاجة لذلك سيما في المناطق الجنوبية والوسطى من البلاد"، مشيراً إلى أن "أغلب دول العالم لا تفرط بقطرة ماء واحدة لما لها من أهمية بعكس العراق الذي لا يستثمر هذه الثروة الطبيعية ويتركها تذهب إلى الخليج العربي".
وأضاف البطيخ، أن "وسائل الري المعتمدة في العراق ما تزال بدائية وتؤدي إلى ضياع 90% من المياه"، داعياً وزارة الموارد المائية إلى "وضع خطة ستراتيجية لبناء السدود".
من جانبه قال العضو الآخر باللجنة النائب هادي الياسري، في حديث إلى (المدى برس)، إن "قدرة السدود الحالية محدودة على استيعاب كميات إضافية من المياه"، داعياً وزارة الموارد المائية إلى "الاستفادة من مياه الأمطار بنحو أفضل".
وذكر الياسري، أن  "الزراعة توسعت في هذا العام بسبب الأمطار لأكثر مما خطط له"، متوقعاً "زيادة الرقعة الزراعية في السنوات المقبلة سيما بعد الاستغناء عن الرية الشتوية للمحاصيل العام 2013 الحالي".
على صعيد متصل كشفت وزارة الموارد المائية، عن "خطة تنفذها بدءاً من نهاية العام 2014 المقبل وتستمر إلى عام 2035، لإقامة سدود وخزانات مائية في عموم العراق، مؤكدة "قدرة السدود العراقية على استيعاب كمية الأمطار الحالية".
وقال المدير العام للموارد المائية في الوزارة علي طالب، في حديث إلى (المدى برس)، إن "الوزارة ستبدأ نهاية عام 2014 المقبل بتطبيق خطة استراتيجية تتواصل إلى عام 2035،  لإقامة سدود وخزانات في عموم العراق"، مضيفاً أن "السدود الحالية تستطيع استيعاب ما يكفي من المياه".
واستبعد طالب، "إمكانية إقامة سدود في محافظات الوسط والجنوب بسبب طبيعة أراضيها المنبسطة، في حين يتطلب بناء السدود منخفضات ووديانا"، متوقعاً "وصول كميات أخرى من المياه للسدود والخزانات الحالية نتيجة الأمطار خلال الموسم الشتوي الحالي".
وذكر المدير العام للموارد المائية، أن "الوزارة تقوم حالياً بتفريغ جزئي للسدود بصورة منظمة تخفيفاً للضغط عليها، ولتمكينها من استيعاب كميات المياه الجديدة".
وتابع طالب، أن "الوزارة استفادت بنحو كامل من المياه في محافظة ديالى، حيث تم ملء سدود مندلي وقزانية والوند بالكامل"، لافتاً إلى أن "مناسيب مياه سد حمرين ارتفعت 70سم في يوم الواحد".
يذكر أن العراق شهد خلال الأيام الماضية موجة أمطار غزيرة، تسبب في غرق الكثير من المدن.
وأعلنت مديرية الموارد المائية في محافظة ديالى، الاثنين،(الـ11 من تشرين الثاني 2013 الحالي)، عن امتلاء عدد من سدود المحافظة بطاقتها الاستيعابية الكاملة من المياه، مبينة أن مياه بحيرة حمرين شهدت ارتفاعاً بأكثر من نصف متر، لأول مرة خلال العقد الأخير.

Shiite leader asks Turkey to give Iraq more water

The sensitive question of water usage on the Euphrates and Tigris dominates discussion between FM Davutoğlu and Iraqi Shiite spiritual leader Ali al-Sistani, with the latter regarding Ankara’s position with suspicion 11.11.2013

Turkey and Iraq should apply for U.N. arbitration to resolve a long-standing water problem, according to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a spiritual leader for Shiites in Iraq and the wider region, as well as a major political force.

Al-Sistani made the suggestion yesterday at a meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu as part of the Turkish minister’s two-day trip to Iraq. 

“Al-Sistani complained about Turkey’s cutting of the flow of water into Iraq and Turkey’s construction of dams on these rivers,” a source familiar with the talks told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The rivers in question, the Euphrates and Tigris, both begin in Turkey and pass through Syria and Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf in Basra. Al-Sistani said Iraqis were suffering from water shortages and that the issue should be resolved through bilateral mechanisms and, if subsequently necessary, through U.N. arbitration.

Davutoğlu explained Turkey’s position with regard to water allowance to neighboring countries, but al-Sistani was unconvinced, according to the source. Davutoğlu earlier said he would not discuss political issues with al-Sistani but most of their conversation reportedly focused on political issues. The two men also discussed ways to avoid a sectarian clash between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East.

المطر والفقراء في ارض السواد-المدى

The Supermarkets’ grip on food security.

Talib Murad

26.10.2013

In 2012 the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.) estimated that during 2010 – 2012 nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, or one in eight individuals, were suffering from chronic undernourishment. Almost all of these, 852 million, were living in developing countries and formed 15 percent of the population of those countries while the remaining 16 million undernourished people were in developed countries (FAO 2012).

These figures are a cause for concern throughout the world putting even more pressure on agriculturists to produce sufficient food to feed growing populations. The fact that people are malnourished in developing countries raises concerns that the food was too expensive for these people and indeed charities in a rich country like the UK are increasingly providing food banks to assist families that cannot afford sufficient food.  This week the national paper, the Daily Telegraph (22.10.2013 edition) contained an article on supermarkets in which it says “Even after the deepest recession for a century, our affluent society has failed to shake off its most profligate habits. The latest food waste figures, published by Britain’s biggest supermarket TESCO manage to take one’s breath away. Of all the bagged salad produced in this country, 68% are never consumed”.

 The amount of food wasted in Britain was calculated (see  hereunder) and Britain is not one of top 20 of the world’s largest countries by population in the world.  One wonders what will be the figures for wasted food in Europe, USA, China and the petrodollar rich countries, and it is anybody’s guess. As increasing concern over the world’s food security deficit gains international momentum the figures for the amount of food wasted worldwide will be an international issue.

I have witnessed the demise of corner shops and small greengrocers over the last four decades in the UK while traditional farmers’ markets became a thing of the past as stalls were taken over by sellers of cheap imported goods. It took the west nearly half a century to reach this situation but in Kurdistan we have attained it in less than a decade. There are some in Kurdistan who, will no doubt, argue that there is no difference if we get our food from a corner shop, greengrocer, super or hypermarket because most of our food is imported and comes mainly from Turkey, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf. Sadly that is true, yet all the time our country’s agriculture and food security deteriorates as we become entrenched as a nation of consumers dazzled with our new oil dependant wealth.

The production and sale of fresh foods, namely vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products should be restricted to farm co-operatives, green grocers and local farmers’ markets. We are happy for the supply of water, gas, electricity, telephone systems etc. to be left to those that have the technical knowledge and expertise to provide a good service, but our food supply chains, and our food security, should not be controlled by international conglomerates that can generate annual profits that exceed the annual GDP of many countries! The sole purpose of these companies is to make substantial profits for their shareholders (in foreign countries) at the expense of both the food producers and the consumers.

We must make a concerted effort to support the greengrocers, local corner shops, small outlets and farmers’ markets. They can provide cheap, local products and are not averse to selling items in quantities that are far smaller than the supermarket will provide and so meet the needs of small or large families. The local trade encourages local farmers and small holders to maintain and increase production from the land as they know that there is a thriving local market for their produce.

In the UK concern is growing over the activities of the large supermarket chains. Farmers complain of the vegetables they have grown at the request of a company to discover that they will not be paid for a large percentage, if not all, of their crop and they are forced to plough perfectly edible ‘ugly’ vegetables back into their fields, as they do not meet the perfect shape deemed necessary for sale, and there is no longer a local market left to sell it to. Last year the UK had the wettest summer on record and supermarkets were pressurized into buying and selling the ‘ugly’ fruits and vegetables they would otherwise have left to rot and instead put them for sale. The not surprising result was that the produce was bought by the shoppers who preferred to buy local food and support the country’s farmers.

In the last few years many farmers in Kurdistan embarked on purchasing polytunnels that allowed an increase in the season over which certain crops such as salad vegetables could be produced. This is now a standard system in use throughout the world and is utilized by farmers, small holders and keen gardeners, and the result is cheap, locally produced food. The Kurdish farmers who used polytunnels produced crops that sold for less than a quarter of the selling price of the imported food on sale in the supermarkets yet the market did not respond to the availability of the local produce!

 We have become like horses wearing blinkers and do not see what is going on around us. We look only at the produce in the supermarket that is presented to us clean and packaged and we do not see the hidden costs that are the demise of our country’s agriculture and our increasing dependence on foreign nations for our food, and therefore our existence. Every other nation in the world is increasingly recognizing that food security is no less important than national security so why on earth are we happy to leave our food security to in the greedy hands of others?

 

FOOD WASTE IN FIGURES

7.2 million tonnes       The amount of food wasted in UK homes each year.

£2.5 billion                  The value of the food thrown away by households every year.

19 percent                  The overall proportion of food bought by households and then is wasted.

68 percent                  The proportion of bagged salads that are wasted every year, including salads that never leave the farm, or are damaged during the packing stage, or are thrown away by retailers and householders.

One in four                 The number of apples in fruit bowls that are not eaten but thrown away.

300,000 tonnes           The amount of ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables sold in supermarkets last autumn after rules were relaxed about the standards for fresh produce.

أوروبا وأمريكا تستهلكان 97% من المنتجات العضوية وتصدران المنتجات المهندسة

 

المصدر:المجلة الزراعية (للاهرام) 15.9.2013

بقلم: أحمد سمير
بين مؤيد ومعارض بشدة نشأت حالة الجدل المستمرة في الأوساط العلمية. حيث يرى فريق انها تكنولوجيا عالمية يجب أن تطبق على نطاق واسع للاستفادة منها وللحد من استخدام المبيدات والكيماويات مما سيعود بالإيجاب على الإنتاجية. بينما يرى الفريق الآخر ضرورة إبادتها لما تسببه من أضرار صحية على الانسان والحيوان علاوة على الأضرار البيئية. ولأن لكل منهم مبرراته العلمية. التي أوقعتنا في حيرة من كون الأغذية المحورة وراثيا آمنة على صحة الانسان والحيوان أم لا؟؟!.

الدكتور توفيق حافظ أستاذ المقاومة الحيوية ومستشار المعمل المركزي للزراعة العضوية حديثه. موضحا أن الأغذية المحورة وراثيا هي تغيير في خلق الله الذي أوجد عليه النباتات حيث ان تغيير تتابع القواعد النيتروجينية في الحمض النووي الطبيعي يؤدي الي تغيير في ترتيب الاحماض الأمينية الموجودة في البروتين الناتج أو بمعني بسيط إنتاج بروتينات غريبة تعمل كأنتيجين وهو ما يتبعه ظهور اعراض مرضية على الانسان عند تناول هذه البروتينات النباتية الغريبة المنتجة ابتداء من الهرش والحكة الي تشوهات الاعضاء. مؤكدا أن المؤتمر العلمي الذي عقد في مدينة بون صرح بأن استخدام الأغذية المحورة وراثيا سيؤثر بالسلب على التوازن الحيوي الطبيعي. ويشير الى وجود قرار من وزير صحة سابق بعدم استخدام أو بيع أو تداول أي أغذية مهندسة وراثيا الا أن هذا القرار غير مفعل اطلاقا. وأن الهندسة الوراثية تكنولوجيا وتنظر الى المنظومة الإنتاجية من جهة واحدة فقط. وهو انتاج محصول مقاوم لآفة ما. وقد نجحت في هذا المجال نجاحا باهرا. مثل انتاج القطنB.T. وبالرغم من هذا النجاح الباهر إلا أنه قد ترتب عليه العديد من الآثار السلبية مثل موت كثير من الحيوانات التي تغذت على بقايا النباتات المحورة وراثيا (حدث ذلك للأغنام الهندية عند تغذيها على بقايا قطن محور وراثيا). والتوسع في استخدام الأغذية المحورة وراثيا من شأنه استعباد الفلاح من قبل الشركات المنتجة لهذه التقاوي لأنها المصدر الوحيد للبذرة. كما أنه أخل بالمنظومة البيئية بقتله هذه الآفات بشكل نهائي حيث أن هذه الآفات هي جزء من حلقة غذائية تتغذى عليها آفات او طفيليات أخرى تعمل على التوازن الطبيعي بين الصالح والطالح. وعندما تمت تغذية مجموعة من حيوانات التجارب على هذه الأغذية لفترة طويلة ثم تم تشريحها وجد ان بها تشوهات في الأعضاء الداخلية. علاوة على نقص الوزن مقارنة بالحيوانات التي تمت تغذيتها على نفس الكمية من العليقة ولكن من مصادر غير مهندسة وراثيا. كما أن منظورها رأسمالي بحت خلال فترة معينة ولا يعنيها ربح الفلاح من عدمه.
مفارقات:
ويشير أنه من المفارقات الغريبة وبالرغم من توسع أمريكا في انتاج الأغذية المحورة وراثيا. الا أن أمريكا وأوروبا تستهلكان 97% من الغذاء العضوي المنتج عالميا- والذي تنص القوانين الغذائية في العالم على عدم استخدام أي نباتات أو كائنات محورة وراثيا في الزراعة العضوية- ويستهلك باقي العالم 3% فقط. لافتا النظر الى أن الأبحاث العلمية التي أجريت في أمريكا وأوروبا أثبتت أن تناول الأغذية المحورة وراثيا يتسبب في تشوهات للأعضاء لمتناول تلك الأغذية، والعقم، وموت الأطفال، الحساسية (وهو مصطلح واسع جدا لا ينطوي على الحكة- الهرش- فقط ولكنه يمتد للحمى الروماتيزمية واصابة صمامات القلب وضيق التنفس والصدمة التي تؤدي الى الموت) ولكن لعدم معرفة البعض فيستخدم أنصار الهندسة الوراثية مصطلح الحساسية على أنه الحكة فقط. كما أن هذه الدراسات قد أثبتت أيضا ارتباط البروتينات الغريبة المخلقة باستخدام تكنولوجيا الهندسة الوراثية بالدم والكلى والطحال والكبد محدثة تشوهات بها.
ويؤكد أن تداول هذه المنتجات حول العالم مسئول عنه شركتان بحجم مالي يقدر بـ45 مليار دولار وبالتالي لن تتم التضحية بهذه المبالغ نظير لا شيء. مشيرا الى أن الجمعية الملكية الكندية أكدت على سمية الأغذية المحورة وراثيا وأنها تسبب الحساسية. ويرى أن مصر يمكنها ان تتوسع في هذا الفرع من العلم في انتاج اللقاحات او انتاج الانسولين ولكن ليس في انتاج غذاء آدمي او حيواني سيؤدي في النهاية للإضرار بصحة الشعب المصري إذا أقر استخدام هذه التكنولوجيا على المستوى التجاري. ويرى أن البديل الأمثل لذلك هو التوسع في الزراعات العضوية والتي تهدف الى الاستدامة واستمرارية الدورة الزراعية.
اكتشاف الآثار:
ويقول الدكتور هشام الششتاوي باحث بمعهد بحوث الهندسة الوراثية الزراعية أنه قبل التصريح بضرر الأغذية المحورة وراثيا من عدمه يجب اكتشاف تلك الآثار أولا بداية من عملية اختيار الجين. ثم تقدير المخاطر لكل الجينات التي يتم استخدامها. وتقدير المخاطر لهذه الجينات يتضمن العديد من الإجراءات والاختبارات المعملية الدقيقة مثل تقدير السمية، واختبارات الحساسية، واحتمالية ان يتحد البروتين المنتج من الجين المستخدم مع أي بروتين موجود منتجا بهذا الاتحاد بروتينا جديدا تكون له اثار سامة او تؤدي الى الحساسية. لافتا النظر الى أن بروتوكول كرتاجيناللسلامة الاحيائية والمطبق من عام 2003 أوجد غرفة لتبادل المعلومات حتى يتسنى لكل الدول الموقعة عليه ان تكون على قدر واحد من المعرفة الخاصة باي نتائج او اختبارات تم اجراؤها على أي نباتات محورة وراثيا وأيضا إعلام الدول بأحدث المعلومات عن تلك المنتجات. ولذا فعندما نتحدث عن أخطار متعلقة بهذه النوعية من الأغذية يجب اجراء تجارب عليها قبل الإعلان عنها.
ويشير الدكتور عماد عبدالقادر أستاذ متفرغ بالمعمل المركزي للزراعة العضوية أن المحاصيل المحورة وراثيا هي إحدى استخدامات الهندسة الوراثية للتغيير الجيني (المورث) وبطريقة مباشرة وسريعة. بحيث يتم نقل بعض المورثات من كائن حي إلى آخر وبطريقة مباشرة وذلك لإمكانية إضافة صفة وراثية جديدة مرغوبة لهذا النوع أو الصنف المحور وراثيا. وأنه من الملاحظ ازدياد استخدام الأصناف المحورة وراثيا وذلك في السنوات الأخيرة حيث تدل إحصائية عام 2003 على زراعة 67.7 مليون هكتار بواسطة 7ملايين مزارع وعلى مستوى 18 دولة تستخدم الأصناف المحورة وراثيا وعلى نطاق تجارى كبير مثل (فول الصويا- الذرة- البطاطا- الطماطم- القطن- الأرز- وغيرها). كما تدل أخر الإحصائيات لعام 2008 على زراعة أكثر من حوالي 250 مليون هكتار من الأغذية المحورة وراثيا حيث تتنافس حوالي 60 دولة على زراعتها واهم هذه الدول هي (الصين- البرازيل- الولايات المتحدة- كندا- الأرجنتين- الهند- اليابان- جنوب إفريقيا- ومعظم دول أوروبا).
نقص المعلومات:
وأكد أن الأغذية المحورة وراثيا لم تخضع بعد لدراسات وتجارب تبين أثرها على صحة الإنسان وعلى البيئة على المدى البعيد!. حيث توجد وجهات نظر عديدة حول الموضوع وتُعقَد المؤتمرات العالمية لبحث مختلف جوانبه. آخرها المؤتمر العالمي الذي عُقِد في سياتل في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية أكتوبر 1999 والذي لم يخرج الباحثون منه بأى نتائج ملموسة أو توصيات محددة لوقف أو استمرار العمل في هذا المجال. ومن جهة أخرى لا يعلم المستهلك شيئاً عن ماهية هذه الأغذية ومن يقوم بإنتاجها وهل لها تأثير على صحة الإنسان أوعلى البيئة بشكل عام؟ وما هو السبيل لتجنب آثارها الضارة؟!. علاوة على أن معظم دول العالموبشكل خاص الدول الأوروبية بدأت بمراقبة التكنولوجيا الجديدة في محاولات للحد من النشاطات غير المرغوب فيها. وذكر بهذا الخصوص مرض جنون البقر الوبائي الذي بسببه دعت جمعية الطب البريطانية إلى اتخاذ قرار رسمي بتعليق نشاطات إنتاج محاصيل وتطوير أغذية محورة وراثيا وبشكل تجاري لحين إجراء دراسات وأبحاث وافية ومكثفة عليها وعلى أثرها على الصحة والبيئة.
أمراض خطيرة:
ويضيف أن من مخاطر استخدام المحاصيل المحورة وراثيا على صحة الإنسان الذي يتغذى عليها هي احداث الطفرات الوراثية نتيجة للتبادل غير الطبيعي لقواعد الحامض النووي وبطريقة مطفرة والمسببة للأمراض السرطانية مثل (سرطان الثدي- البروستاتا- والقولون) وايضا احداث التغير الجيني للصفات الوراثية ووجودها بصورة سائدة مما تجعلها مورثات مهلكة تنتقل عن طريق التزاوج محدثة تأثيرها الضار والمسبب للأمراض الوراثية للأجيال اللاحقة بالإضافة إلى أحداث الكثير من الإجهاض المتكرر وتشوه بعض الأجنة وأمراض الحساسية. وبالنسبة لتأثيرها على البيئة فهي تتسبب في احداث عدم التوازن بين الكائنات الحية في الطبيعة مع إيجاد سلالات جديدة من الكائنات الحية.
واختتم حديثه قائلا إننا لسنا ضد التقدم العلمي أو التطور الصناعي بشرط ألا يكون على حساب صحة الإنسان أو تلوث البيئة. ويجب على الجهات المختصة في الدولة مراعاة الدقة والحذر في استيراد المواد الغذائية من الخارج. وان تخضع وبشكل منتظم للتقييم الكيميائي والسمي والتغذوي الشامل قبل التسويق للمستهلك.



الزراعة تؤكد وجود نمو في الثروة الحيوانية العراقية

2013/10/21 17:51

المدى برس/ بغداد:أعلنت وزارة الزراعة العراقية، اليوم الاثنين، زيادة عدد الثروة الحيوانية في البلاد، مؤكدة استمرارها بحملاتها المجانية لتلقيح المواشي والحيوانات ودعم العلاجات البيطرية وتقديم خدمات التلقيح الاصطناعي لتوفير البروتين الحيواني لمائدة المواطن العراقي.

وقال مدير قسم العلاقات والإعلام والتعاون الدولي في الوزارة، علي مطير، في بيان للوزارة، تسلمت (المدى برس) نسخة منه، إن "الزيادة في اعداد الثروة الحيوانية (نمو حجم الثروة الحيوانية) جاءت منسجمة مع خطط الوزارة لتطوير القطاع الزراعي بشقيه النباتي والحيواني"، مشيراً إلى أن "الوزارة مستمرة بتوزيع العلف على مربي الثروة الحيوانية، إذ خصصت 22 كغم من الشعير لكل رأس غنم أو ماعز بأسعار مدعومة، فضلاً عن توزيع مادة النخالة على مربي الجاموس والإبل وحبوب الذرة الصفراء المدعومة لأصحاب مشاريع الدواجن".

وأضاف مطير، أن "الوزارة مستمرة بحملاتها المجانية لتلقيح الثروة الحيوانية، ودعم العلاجات البيطرية وتقديم خدمات التلقيح الاصطناعي بصورة مجانية أيضاً"، مبيناً أن "مجمل تلك المشاريع يصب في (مسعى) تطوير الثروة الحيوانية وزيادتها وتوفير بروتين حيواني يدخل في مائدة المواطن العراقي".

وأوضح، أن "صناديق الاقراض التخصصية في وزارة الزراعة مستمرة في دعم قطاع الثروة الحيوانية والقطاعات الأخرى ضمن آلية المبادرة الزراعية للحكومة العراقية".

واطلقت الحكومة العراقية مبادرة شاملة للنهوض بالواقع الزراعي بالبلاد في آب من عام 2008، فيما حددت سقفاً زمنياً قدره عشر سنوات لبلوغ البلاد مرحلة الاكتفاء الذاتي من المحاصيل الاستراتيجية، وتشمل المبادرة من بين أمور أخرى، دعم الفلاحين بالبذور والأسمدة والمبيدات الزراعية، واستصلاح الأراضي وضمان شراء الإنتاج من المحاصيل الاستراتيجية بأسعار السوق، إضافة إلى تخصيص صناديق إقراض متنوعة منها صندوق تنمية النخيل القائم منها والجديد، وصندوق تقنيات الري الحديثة، وصندوق الثروة الحيوانية، وصندوق لأغراض دعم المشاريع الاستراتيجية، وصندوق إقراض صغار الفلاحين.

وكانت وزارة الزراعة أطلقت خلال حزيران 2012 المنصرم، حملة لترقيم الثروة الحيوانية بكلفة تبلغ عشرة مليارات دينار، مبينة أنها لا تمتلك إحصائية دقيقة للثروة الحيوانية في العراق.

يذكر أن المنظمة العربية لتنمية للثروة الحيوانية قد بينت خلال إحصائية قد نشرتها في عام 2005 بان هناك تناقص في إعداد الثروة الحيوانية في العراق وصلت نسبته الى 33% مقارنة بعام 1998، فيما كشفت منظمة (فاو) في إحصائية لها عام 2004 إن نسبة 40 % من الثروة الحيوانية في العراق قد تم تهريبها بعد حرب 2003 إلى الدول المجاورة.

الموقع

ألسوال المطروح ؟هو ما مدى تاثير السعر المتدني جدا للريال الايراني والليره السوريه على اسعار المنتجات الزراعيه لهذين البلدين في الاسواق العراقيه. وما هو تاثير  سعر صرف الدينار العراقي  على اعداد الحيوانات الزراعيه التي تصل العراق قانونيا وغير قانونيا .While the transboundary movement of animals is always occurring during the run up to the Eid it becomes excessive and widespread. In addition the devaluation of currencies, as seen now in Syria and Iran and previously in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, leads to a rise in transboundary movement of all livestock. In turn the rise in livestock movements results in a corresponding rise in Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) and in recent weeks outbreaks of Lumpy Skin Disease have been recorded throughout the countries of our Region because of the increased livestock smuggling

 



Why this poor camel slaughtered?

 

16^th,October 2013

This very old male camel was slaughtered inhumanely in Saudi yesterday in celebration of the Islamic Eid. Who was going to eat the tough meat of this poor animal while, freely available throughout the Kingdom during the Eid, is an abundancy of fresh meat from the millions of small ruminants slaughtered during the festival!

Yesterday the Islamic Development Bank sold 800,000 head of  highly subsidized small ruminants for almost $100,000,000 in order for pilgrims to sacrifice them. In addition the Saudi newspapers today have reported that some 30 ‘ghost’ companies were operating to provide pilgrims with certificates of proof of slaughter of a sacrificial animal as part of their Haj when in fact no animals were killed.

My conservative estimate is that throughout the Islamic countries over 8,000,000 animals were slaughtered yesterday in the first few hours of the Eid. This mass slaughter has a devastating effect on livestock production in our arid regions where there is insufficient off-take numbers of animals produced and this, in turn, leads to mass legal and illegal movements of livestock across international borders.

While the transboundary movement of animals is always occurring during the run up to the Eid it becomes excessive and widespread. In addition the devaluation of currencies, as seen now in Syria and Iran and previously in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, leads to a rise in transboundary movement of all livestock. In turn the rise in livestock movements results in a corresponding rise in Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) and in recent weeks outbreaks of Lumpy Skin Disease have been recorded throughout the countries of our Region because of the increased livestock smuggling.

Just on three years ago FAO and OIE announced the welcome news that cattle plague (rinderpest) had been eradicated worldwide nevertheless when cattle can be smuggled across four countries (personal observation) we must remain ever vigilant.   

ساماني ماسي له هه ريمي كوردستان 2013 الثروه السمكيه في الاقليم

التهاب الجلد العقدي

We cannot drink oil !!

We cannot drink oil!

By Talib Murad Elam

28.9.2013-Erbil

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface and is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, 96.5% of the planet's water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.

Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
 

 

Overuse of freshwater resources in the Gulf and North Africa.

Last autumn the ex-Amir of Qatar addressed the Food Security Summit in Rome last autumn and one wonders if our friends in Qatar believe that they are going to lead us in solving the region’s food security and water problems. If they could it would indeed be a miracle but the best that we could hope for is that they now recognize the damaging consequences caused by the Gulf States in some cash deprived countries.

The arid lands of the Gulf cannot be used for agriculture so these states have been busy grabbing all the available agricultural land and water in poor countries, mainly in Africa, and now they are eyeing the Kurdish region of Turkey, and while they offer to” help” the poorer countries ’‘develop their agriculture”’ they ensure that the food produced will go to feed the Gulf. In addition the populations of the Gulf States are swollen by foreigners working there and indeed there may be four to eight expatriates for every local inhabitant and these states would have less of a food security problem if they did not rely on excessive numbers of overseas workers.

Agricultural projects in the Gulf and many Arab countries have not met with great success as it is naturally difficult to raise crops in these hot, arid lands. When the Saudis embarked on producing their own wheat they relied on the country’s underground water reserves to irrigate the land. Such was the demand for water that they overused the country’s aquifers and the project failed but, when they could not grow wheat for bread, they turned to milk production and developed huge dairy farms. However the dairy cows in these farms are fed copious amounts of green fodder which naturally requires water to grow! Where does the water for this production of fodder plants come from when the aquifers have been depleted? Ironically the growing of green fodder needs much more water than growing cereals. Is the water produced by desalination plants? If so it is expensive fodder, but no doubt producing desalinated water for agriculture will be subsidized by the government.

The Gulf States started their agricultural development by relying on water from wells and there was a flurry of well digging by foreign workers in order to provide water for the farms that sprang up across the states. In addition the “farmers” of these Gulf States relied on foreign agricultural workers and I was told of many cases where the operation of pumps on well heads had been left to the whim of these workers who took little care to ensure water was not wasted. Most of these initial farming enterprises would prove to be no more than the “leisure activities” of the wealthy and no thought was given to the amount of water taken from the wells. I was in Qatar in the 1990s when the government proposed putting meters on the wells to monitor water usage and avoid waste of the precious commodity. However the proposal was met with such uproar from the land owners that it was never enforced.

At the same time the late Sheik Zaid of the United Arab Emirates, who wanted to see agricultural development in his arid country, encouraged the production of local food using underground water and foreign farm laborers. The main crop produced was tomatoes and truckloads of local tomatoes would be driven to the Abu Dhabi weighbridge where, depending on the weight of the truck’s cargo, large subsidies would be granted to the producer. Once the subsidy had been allocated the truck driver drove a short distance and dumped the load of unwanted vegetables! This was brought to notice when one of my colleagues in F.A.O. was sent to investigate a massive explosion of the fly population in Abu Dhabi only to find that the flies were thriving on the mountains of unwanted, subsidized, tomatoes, a crop that needs a lot of water to produce! The development of a canning or tomato puree plant to use this tomato crop would have avoided the fly problem and given some tangible result from the whole enterprise. However no one had given thought to the entire project and the consequences were a plague of flies and the waste of the country’s meager, irreplaceable, underground water reserves. It has to be said that whoever advised the U.A.E. to embark on this expensively, subsidized project decided to meet the wishes of the state’s ruler and turn a blind eye to the obvious outcome of wasting the limited water resources.

This story from Abu Dhabi is not the only case where a food production idea, put forward by a leader, political figure or prominent business man, was jumped at with no thought to the environmental impact or consequences of the enterprise. All too often the idea is grasped by those who are all too willing to please those in power, then bilateral or UN development agencies are called in to assist in the new project, and with blinkered eyes these specialists work to bring about the desired outcome. In such cases the environmental consequences may far outweigh any benefits of the venture not to mention the use of finances that could have been used to greater benefit elsewhere.

 In Kuwait FAO financially supported a Technical Co-operation Programme, using funds that the donors regularly allocated to poorer countries. The project was based on the allocation of several thousands of small plots of land (recognized as smallholdings in Europe) to individuals for the purpose of livestock production. This was supposed to help with the country’s food security yet the majority of the animals kept by the owners of the plots of land were exotic birds and animals with very few small ruminants and camels. The result was a proliferation of what in effect were small zoological collections kept by wealthy people and little was contributed towards food production for the Kuwaiti population.

In Libya in the early 70’s, at the insistence of Gaddafi, the ill-advised, Kufra agricultural development took place in the south east of the country. In 1976 I was a member of the organization committee of the Libya’s first veterinary conference in Benghazi and I accompanied a very large group of foreign visitors who were flown from Benghazi to Kufra to see the 250,000 sheep and the irrigated fields that were producing cereals and vegetables by the use of underground water. The desert had indeed become green and it was an unbelievable sight to see from the plane as we flew over the desert that was spotted with large circles of green! However the greening of the desert was short lived and a few years later the shifting dunes of sand reclaimed the land as the quantity of the available underground water had been grossly miscalculated. What a costly mistake!

The Alsarir project was a similar enterprise to the north of Kufra where one of my colleague, worked as part of a UN team and this suffered the same fate as Kufra. Following the failure of these endeavors, Gaddafi, following the advice he was given and determinate to secure water for drinking and food production, started to talk about developing a great man-made river to bring water from the south of the country to the more populated north. This project, costing US$ 25 billion, was executed by Korean companies over several years and consisted of producing 1,300 wells to take water from a fossil aquifer and pump it, in especially constructed pipes that were several metres in diameter, northwards. The original estimation was that there was sufficient water in the aquifer to meet the needs of Libya for thousands of years now that figure has been amended to 50 to 60 years and if the Libyan population and its demand for water continues to increase at the present rate the country will have no alternative other than to turn to the desalination of sea water to meet its needs. This is an expensive alternative costing 10 times more that the man-made river – if these estimates prove to be correct! In short Libya will spend all of its oil revenues on desalinating water and importing its food. This would prove Gadaffi to have been right when he repeatedly preached to the country, “If a nation does not produce its own food it will be a slave to the others.” In the 10 years I spent in Libya I heard this almost every day on the state’s radio and television.

The situation in Kurdistan

I am concerned that here in Kurdistan we are ignoring what happened in other countries of the region while agriculture is not given any priority by the leading elite as they are bedazzled by the newly acquired oil wealth. I had only been in the country a few weeks when I was told by a leading politician, “Agriculture is not important when we have oil!”, and sadly I have heard this view many times since. Just as I have seen in many other oil producing countries the majority of agricultural land in Kurdistan is now being used for other purposes.  All too often agricultural land is now used for “leisure activities” or the construction of villas surrounded by several donums of land with barbed wire fencing and the obligatory wells, and the latter may or may not be legal.

An indication of how serious the depletion of our agricultural production (and land) is can be found on the KRG investment website which reveals how much land and money has been ‘invested’ in activities other than agriculture. Today the majority of people are ‘after a fast buck’ and both the government and most of the population are more interested in enterprises that offer a quick turnover while foreign investors are attracted to Kurdistan to provide service industries. At the same time we are faced with a surfeit of food and drink imports from the immediate neighbouring countries which are upstream from us and control the amount of water that flows into our lands. An indication of how little importance is attributed to agriculture in Kurdistan is that only one of the 16 Ministers of Agriculture appointed in the last 21 years (during separate or joint administrations) has been an agriculturist while the Director Generals were political appointees and only some of these had an agricultural background.

While the powers that be are dismissing the agricultural sector as being of little significance little attention is being paid to the continual reduction in the flow of rivers and streams entering the country or the increasing demand placed on our aquifers. The number of “authorized” wells in the KRG area at the end of 2012 stood at 18,000, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. More than half of these wells were identified as being used to supply water for industries, yet there is little evidence of industrial production. I have been informed by a reliable source that at some of these wells one can purchase a small tanker of water for 8 million ID and that this is the sole purpose of the well. In addition many of the new villas and small holdings that are springing up all over our countryside have their own well, with or without government approval. If government officials try to stop the construction of a well a telephone call from a member of the hierarchy will overturn any official decision, even at the ministerial level as most of the officials are political appointees.

 The lack of concern paid to the loss prime agricultural land becomes less significant when compared to the unconcern over the diminishing levels of water in the rivers flowing into the country. Turkey and Iran are adamant that water in the rivers that flow across their borders into Kurdistan is treated as a ‘commodity’. It seems that our governments easily make trade agreements with our two neighbours to import all sorts of goods, including food and drink, into Iraq yet, apart from raising a verbal concern over the reduction of water in our rivers and aquifers, they have failed to take the matter further. Meanwhile our neighbours are taking full advantage of the weak Iraqi state and are making tens of billions of US $ from exports to Iraq and Kurdistan. Even Syria, suffering from civil unrest for 3 years, still manages to export its products to us!

Importing goods from Syria at the present time is an indication of how unconcerned we have become as to where our food comes from. Turkey, Iran and Syria are profiting from exporting food to us so obviously we should use this to our advantage in order to prevent them continuing to deprive us of water. No doubt there are those who would query this idea stating that we are buying the food that has been produced with the water we no longer receive but we are not only being denied water that could be used in agriculture but very soon we will not have enough for us all to drink!  

NASA's warning about the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin.

 In a paper published in the Journal of Water Resources Research (February 2013) researchers from NASA and others published their findings on the water situation in the Tigris-Euphrates River basin. These researchers have provided a disturbing figure for the total loss of fresh water from the basin from 2003 to 2009 of 144 billion m³. A few points must be taken into consideration with this figure of total water loss. The researchers were concerned with the water loss in the Tigris-Euphrates river basin and not the water loss in a specific country. Therefore the 144 billion cubic meters of water loss is from an area of 753,960Km² covering the South West of Iran, South East of Turkey, North West Syria and Northern and Central Iraq.The total water loss is over 7 years from 2003-2009,  and consists of  3 main parts, 20% was lost by evaporation in the soil, 20% from lakes and reservoirs, 60% loss by the decline in the groundwater where humans have pumped water from the ground (wells, boreholes) for usage.

The river Nile receives 55 billion cubic meters annually and we can see that in 7 years the water loss in the Tigris Euphrates basin is equivalent to three times the water in the Nile in any one year!

The researchers highlighted several issues of MAJOR concern to Iraq:

·        When there is a water shortage, the rivers supply less water to Iraq, so that Iraq relies on boreholes which then decrease the groundwater levels (this groundwater can be considered non-renewable).

·        The water loss is accelerating, especially after 2007.

·        The areas with the greatest water loss and most likely to be affected in the future are the areas furthest downstream i.e. Iraq (including South Iraq).

·        The water loss is exasperated by poor local water management.

·        The water loss is considerably exasperated by a lack of cooperation in water management between the countries concerned.

·        Turkey’s construction of dams means that Iraq therefore has less water supplied by the rivers and must then rely even more on its depleting groundwater. This situation will be exacerbated by any drought.

The lack of international cooperation water management in the region is already affecting will the lives of the people who depend on the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris.

The threat posed by Turkey’s actions

The increasing utilization of water from the Tigris and Euphrates by upstream countries is also of concern to nations outside of the region. A roundtable meeting for delegates from the nations concerned was organized by Blue Peace in the Houses of Parliament, London in December 2012 and this was followed by another meeting in Istanbul, in March 2013. I participated in both meetings but so far the only outcome has been that delegates from outside the region are even more concerned over the developing situation. Their concern was raised by Turkey’s representative making it very clear that they regard water as a commodity that they can sell. In addition they did not deny that they plan to sell agricultural land, irrigated by the water from the 22 dams constructed so far under the Turkish Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, GAP) project and those that they plan to construct, to other countries with limited agricultural land such as the Gulf States.

The lake behind the Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates alone is more than 40km³ in volume yet there has been no significant discussion on management of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates that has involved leaders of the countries of the Tigris and Euphrates. It appears that those outside the countries dependant on these rivers for water recognize the severity of the consequences of Turkey’s actions and are more concerned while, within Turkey itself, there have been protests over the flooding of land and the forced relocation of thousands of Turkish Kurds from their homes and villages and the loss of World Heritage sites. Within Iraq the fall in river levels has had repercussions on water supplies and a significant impact on the marshlands of the south.

Loss of rivers and streams flowing across the border with Iran

In addition to Turkey’s depletion of Iraq’s major rivers Iran has dammed more than 24 small rivers and streams that also supply Kurdistan and Iraq. Some of these rivers have completely dried up such as the Alwand removing the drinking water supply for almost 1.5 million people. Photographs of the Alwand in full flow and as it now is, a dry road for cars, were met with disbelief from members of the Blue Peace meeting in London in 2012. Until then the impact on Kurdistan and Iraq of Iran’s utilisation of water for irrigation had not been brought to public attention yet its actions are having a great impact. Iran is using the water for irrigation producing crops for its use and to export to its neighbor while we appear raise little objection to deprivation of water from our once fertile lands and happily buy Iran’s produce.   

The views of KRG’s General Director of Water Resources

The General Director of Water Resources, Kurdistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, has said that drought, construction of legal and illegal wells and the demand for water drinking and irrigation is having a major impact on Kurdistan’s underground water reserves and they are rapidly depleting.

He said that over the last 11 years the level of the underground water in some areas has dropped by 100 meters. In order to reach underground water one has to dig down 350m in Erbil and 250m in both Suliemaniah, and Duhok while 11 years ago one could reach underground water at only a depth of 180m to 220m in Erbil, 90 to 150m in Suliemaniah and 150m in Duhok.  The Director General said that the depth at which water is found is increasing at a dangerous rate. He further illustrated the problem by saying that in the Mala Omar district of Erbil the level at which ground water was found had increased by 18m but in the same area three years later the level had dropped a further 45m. Similarly over the past three years in Akre, and Halabja the underground water level has dropped 12m and 7m respectively and that while water usage has increased the snow and rainfall levels are decreasing annually.



In addition the DG was especially concerned about the digging of wells, especially illegally. He said there are 4,800, 7,828, and 2,034 legal wells in Erbil, Suli and Duhok, respectively, but there are also 2,000, 17,000 and 40 illegal wells in the three respective provinces. Most of these wells have been dug with Syrian-made equipment that has been banned in Syria in order to preserve that country’s underground water reserves. He has advised the government to take steps to provide water for drinking and irrigation from the rivers "…or one day the underground water will mix with other components and it cannot be used… the wells will also get dry … then a disaster will happen."

Action is needed now

It is high time that the governments in Baghdad and Erbil take steps to protect our vital supplies of water. We need restrictions on construction of new wells that are strictly adhered to and legislation on levels of water used for irrigation. Furthermore it is imperative that our governments enters formal negotiations with neighbouring states to safeguard our rivers and ensure that the river water we have depended on for millennia continues to flow through our lands.

For the last three years I have endeavored to make those in power in the KRG to take my advice and support agricultural development to no avail. The wealth of oil is blinding them to other issues but if they do not take immediate action to safeguard our water supplies then I am afraid that indeed all is lost and there is no hope for us. We are a landlocked country and, unlike Libya, we do not have the option of desalination plants to provide drinking water. Oil may bring us wealth and the ability to buy in all our food requirements today, but like our underground water reserves our oil reserves are finite and will finish one day. However before we sell all our oil our water reserves will have gone and everyone will learn the hard way that we cannot drink oil.