Climate Change, Upstream Damming, and Iraq’s Growing Water Crisis

For thousands of years, the rivers of Mesopotamia sustained life, agriculture, and empire in one of the most historically significant regions on Earth. Today, those same rivers are shrinking, strained by rising temperatures, regional power politics, and decades of neglect. As water becomes scarcer and more contested, Iraq faces a mounting crisis that threatens its food security, economic stability, and social cohesion, revealing how environmental change and geopolitical decisions can converge to endanger an entire nation.