UN official says searing heat in Iraq indicate global boiling era started
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, during his visit to southern Iraq. Photo: OHCHR
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said during his visit to Basra on Wednesday that standing in searing heat in that scarred landscape and breathing air polluted by the many gas flares dotting the region makes it clear that the era of global boiling has indeed begun, according to a statement issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Turk described the situation in southern Iraq as a climate emergency. “What is happening here is a window into a future that is now coming for other parts of the world if we continue to fail in our responsibility to take preventive and mitigating action against climate change,” Turk stated.
The UN official elaborated that Iraq is among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights clarified that the serious environmental degradation in southern Iraq is a result of a toxic mix of violence, oil industry excesses, global warming, reduced rainfall, and a lack of effective water management and regulation.
Turk added that the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources announced that water levels in Iraq are the lowest they have ever been.
The UN official added that the water issue has wider regional implications, and all countries have to work to manage this precious resource as a public good.