Southern Iraq’s marshlands were made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016 for their biodiversity and ancient history. The once verdant wetland is now reduced to puddles of muddy water surrounded by largely dry ground. This meeting place of the great Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was once home to herds of buffaloes and shoals of fish. Now, it is a graveyard of animals that once were the life of the land.

Between August 2020 and August 2022, 46 percent of the swamplands of southern Iraq, including Huwaizah and Chibayish, suffered a total surface water loss, according to Dutch peace-building organization PAX. Another 41 percent of marsh areas suffered from reduced water levels and wetness, according to the organization, which used satellite data to make the assessment. The area’s biodiversity is at risk, as the swamplands provide a home for “numerous populations of threatened species” and are an essential stopping point for around two hundred species of migratory water birds, according to UNESCO.

Protests are ongoing throughout August, with protestors demanding water provision and an end to the humanitarian crisis in the marshes, many of whom were taken to hospital after brutal and excessive violence.