THE MESOPOTOMIAN MARSHES: A WORLD HERITAGE ON THE BRINKIn the heart of southern Iraq lies a landscape long described as the “Garden of Eden.” The Mesopotamian Marshlands - the Ahwar - are one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, an ecological miracle in an otherwise arid region. They shelter endangered species, sustain migratory birds, and carry the living heritage of the Marsh Arabs, whose culture stretches back to the Sumerians. In 2016, UNESCO recognized this extraordinary blend of biodiversity and human civilization by naming the Ahwar as a World Heritage Site.Today, this heritage is vanishing. Despite international recognition and national commitments, the marshes continue to shrink. Buffalo herders – once the backbone of the marsh economy - are selling their livestock or shifting to cattle that need less water. This is not only environmental degradation; it is cultural erasure. Families who rebuilt their lives after decades of conflict are being displaced again. Fishermen abandon their boats. Women artisans lose the reeds and papyrus that sustained their craft. The soul of Mesopotamia is slipping away.  A COLLAPSE MEASURED IN LIVELIHOODS, CULTURE, AND LOSSThe 2023 UNDP-led Participatory Ecosystem Assessment puts hard numbers to a painful reality: Buffalo herds have fallen by more than 76%, with milk production collapsing and prices pushing livestock out of reach for most families.  Fishing, the primary livelihood for over 40% of marsh residents, has crashed from 80 tons a day to nearly zero due to water scarcity, illegal fishing, and invasive species.Water systems are failing, with over 86% of desalination plants insufficient and nearly 40% non-operational, forcing families to buy costly tanker water. Migration is accelerating. Since 2018, more than 170,000 people have been displaced; nearly half the marsh population has left their homes, and 7.5% have left Iraq entirely.Women lose economic roles, undermining household resilience and widening gender inequality.These losses ripple far beyond the wetland boundaries. They erode food security, destabilize communities, drain local economies, and weaken progress toward nation development goals. The marshes are not a side issue – they are a pillar of Iraq’s ecological, cultural, and economic identity.  EFFORTS UNDERWAY – BUT NOT AT THE SCALE REQUIREDIraq and its partners are working to reverse the decline. UNDP is advancing Iraq’s Climate Investment Plan through marshland restoration and community-led adaptation in six governorates, including Al-Chibayish.  IOM continues to document climate displacement and support resilience efforts such as wetland construction. FAO and the Green Climate Fund are investing $39 million in sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, while WFP promotes high-impact nature-based solutions sch as mangrove restoration in Basra with vast carbon sequestration potential. UNESCO supports transboundary water cooperation, legal reform, and environmental protections that have already halted oil exploration in parts of the marshes. National authorities, such as the Ministries of Environment and Water Resources, are updating Iraq’s Strategic Study of Water and Land Resources to strengthen water allocation, monitoring, and environmental safeguards. These initiatives deserve recognition. But they are not enough. The UNESCO inscription was never a trophy - it was a responsibility.  A promise. A global acknowledgment that this landscape is irreplaceable. Recognition without restoration will remain hollow. THE WAY FORWARD: FROM RECOGNITION TO RESTORATION1. Secure and sustainably manage water for the MarshesStrengthen basin-wide water governance - reduce losses across all sectors, regulate pollution, and expand wastewater treatment. Without reliable, clean water flow, restoration is impossible.2. Build climate-resilient, diversified livelihoods for marshland communities.Support buffalo herders with sustainable feed systems; expand fish farming, reed harvesting, handicrafts, and eco-tourism. Reviving the marshes means reviving the people who sustain them. 3. Empower communities through data, participation, and climate-smart infrastructure.Develop robust monitoring systems, strengthen early warning systems; and ensure inclusive decision-making - especially for women and youth. Restoration succeeds only when communities lead it.   THE MOMENT FOR ACTION IS NOW  These ideas are not new. They have been studied, debated, and documented for years. What has been missing is scale, urgency, and political will. Iraq has taken meaningful steps, from joining the UN Water Convention to advancing major climate and development partnerships and plans. But the marshes cannot survive on plans alone.  They need investment, protection, and bold decisions. They need leadership that matches their historical and ecological importance. They need a national commitment that makes restoration a legacy for future generations, not a footnote in history.  The Mesopotamian Marshlands cannot wait.  If we fail to act, we will lose not just a landscape – but a living civilization, a cultural heritage, and a vital ecological system that once breathed life into the cradle of humanity.  This is the time to choose between restoration and regret. 

This blog was authored by Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq Mr. Ghulam Isaczai. I am serving in Iraq at a moment of real transition - for the country and for the United Nations. As Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator, I have seen firsthand how changes on the ground are reshaping Iraq’s priorities - and how the UN must adapt to remain relevant and effective.After decades of conflict, Iraq is seeing tangible progress. Improved security has enabled nearly five million internally displaced people to return home. Economic activity is recovering. State institutions are rebuilding confidence. Regionally, Iraq is re-engaging with its neighbours. These gains remain fragile, but they are real - and they demand a different kind of international partnership.Moving Towards Sustainable Development in Iraq This progress is also changing the UN’s role. As humanitarian needs decline and the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) concluded in 2025, the UN is shifting from a mission-led presence to a development-focused partnership aligned with national priorities. This transition has required careful sequencing, trust and close coordination with the Government of Iraq and across the UN system - to responsibly scale down humanitarian assistance while safeguarding continuity where setbacks would carry real human cost.The result is a UN Country Team working increasingly as one. Humanitarian action, development cooperation and peacebuilding are now aligned under a shared direction, anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. The Cooperation Framework, signed recently, sets clear priorities on economic diversification, social protection, climate and water resilience, governance, human rights and the rule of law.Central to this transformation is the Resident Coordinator’s leadership, which bridges the humanitarian, development and peace pillars. This approach ensures seamless coordination and continuity across all these tracks, promoting national ownership and preventing fragmentation during sensitive periods.   United for ImpactFinancing is central to this transformation. As Iraq moves beyond traditional aid, the focus is on unlocking more predictable and sustainable financing - through closer engagement with international financial institutions, development banks and the private sector. The Government’s openness to pooled funding under the Cooperation Framework reflects growing confidence in a more coordinated and accountable UN Country Team.This coherence is already delivering results. In social protection, agencies are aligned behind a single, nationally led strategy. In climate action, a joint advisory platform brings Government, the UN and donors together to support Iraq’s climate commitments. In sensitive areas such as durable solutions for displacement and returns from Al-Hol camp, fragmented efforts have given way to a nationally led, One UN approach.The UN’s role is evolving into high quality policy advice and technical assistance replacing two decades of service delivery model to sustain gains built over years. At the same time, closer integration across the UN has generated around $10 million in savings in operational costs over the past few years - resources that matter in a constrained global environment and can be reinvested for development purposes.The challenges ahead are real. Financing remains uncertain. Capacities vary. Risks of backsliding persist. But this transition shows what is possible when reform is driven by leadership, trust and purpose. At a pivotal moment for Iraq, the UN is not holding on to old models - it is adapting, and moving decisively from stability to sustainability.Caption: Improved coherence amongst the UN, Government and partners is already delivering results in social protection, climate action and security challenges.Photo: © UN Iraq
  

Mosul, Iraq- December 2025 - For many in Iraq, access to decent work remains a challenge. At 40 years old, Yousif Ayed Saleh faced this reality first-hand. Living in Hay Al-Tanak, Mosul, with his parents, wife, six children, and two brothers-in-law with disabilities, and carrying the responsibility of providing for a family of ten, he relied on daily-wage jobs—often physically demanding and unstable—to support his household. Over time, these strenuous tasks led to a severe back injury, forcing him to stop working and putting his family’s well-being at risk.  “I was unemployed and worried about how to meet my family’s essential needs,” Yousif recalls. “It was a very stressful time.” His story reflects a broader challenge in Iraq, where unemployment affects 14% of the working-age population and reaches 32% among youth, according to the 2024 national census. This is one of the reasons why UN-Habitat integrates livelihood opportunities into its housing initiatives, ensuring solutions are sustainable and human-centred. Through the Japan Village project in Mosul—funded by the Government of Japan and Japanese private entities, and implemented in partnership with Peace Winds Japan—UN-Habitat integrates housing solutions with skills development. The initiative trains local residents in construction-related trades, enabling them to help rebuild their communities while securing sustainable employment. In 2025 alone, 100 young men and women completed training in these trades, gaining valuable skills and jobs while contributing to the recovery of the Rajm Hadeed neighbourhood, which is planned as a residential area for returnees under Mosul’s City Master Plan.  Yousif joined the programme’s electrical workshop, where he learnt the foundations of electrical installation and maintenance—skills he had never had the chance to study before—and is now applying his new skills on-site:  “I feel proud to finally have a profession in electrical work,” Yousif shared. “This job helps me support my family and gives me the chance to serve my community by helping build safe housing for returnees.”  Beyond technical training, the programme was also a source of confidence and stability. Yousif notes that the opportunity has improved his financial security and overall well-being, motivating him to continue learning and growing in the field.  “To consider myself both financially and emotionally stable brings me happiness and relief. This opportunity gave me hope and motivation to keep improving my skills.”  Hay Al-Tanak, Yousif’s neighbourhood, was heavily affected by conflict with ISIL. Even after ten years of liberation, recovery efforts remain pressing, requiring both investment and skilled labour. Today, projects like Japan Village are helping communities recover by combining housing solutions with capacity building—contributing to development for a better and more sustainable urban future.  Yousif’s message to others is clear: “Take any opportunity to learn and work, even if it’s a skill you can practise from home. It can change your life.”  He extends his gratitude to UN-Habitat, the Government of Japan, and Peace Winds Japan for providing an opportunity that improved his family’s standard of living and restored his sense of purpose and hope in the future.    

Madam. President,Distinguished representatives of Council members, Allow me to begin this briefing ahead of the conclusion of UNAMI’s mandate on 31 December by thanking the members of this esteemed Council for their invaluable support and guidance over the years. I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Government of Iraq for hosting and being a partner to UNAMI since the Mission first began 22 years ago. I also wish to take this opportunity to thank both Iraq and Kuwait, present here today, for their cooperation and support in the implementation of UNAMI’s long-running mandate. Today, indeed is a great day for the international community to witness an honourable and dignified closure of a UN mission. Madam President,On the occasion of this final briefing, let us cast our minds back to 2003, when this Council established UNAMI in a country grappling with the effects of decades of dictatorship, regional wars, internal conflicts, foreign occupation, and the terror of Da’esh. The road to peace, security and stability was long and difficult. However, with the support of the international community Iraq came out victorious, but with untold sacrifices. It is fitting that, today, we honor the memory of all those who lost their lives since UNAMI first began operating in Iraq. This includes the 22 United Nations personnel who paid the ultimate price in the Canal Hotel bombing of 2003. I wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to them, including our late colleague Sérgio Vieira de Mello, and to those who survived this terrorist act but with lasting scars.My predecessors and I have been struck by the resilience and steadfastness of Iraq and its people as they worked resolutely to build a more secure and prosperous future. From the adoption of a new Constitution, to the strengthening and consolidation of democracy through thirteen successful electoral processes, Iraq was able to incrementally consolidate hard-won gains against the odds. Indeed, to the credit of Iraq’s people and leaders, the country has just held its sixth parliamentary elections on 11 November, marked by a notable increase in turnout of registered voters (56%), and by being one of the most free, orderly and credible elections to be conducted in Iraq so far. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Iraqi people, including the Independent High Electoral Commission, and UNAMI, through its Electoral Assistance Office, for the service provided to Iraq during these elections. I can hardly think of a more fitting final chapter to UNAMI’s activities than the scenes witnessed by myself and my team at polling stations across the country, as Iraqis from diverse backgrounds lined up in orderly queues, eager to cast their ballots.While I express confidence that Iraq will continue to build upon this solid electoral foundation, I fervently hope that a new Government will be formed without delay. I would be remiss not to note that the formation of a new Kurdistan Regional Government remains pending after over a year of protracted negotiations. The formation of the federal as well as the regional governments in Iraq present opportunities to strengthen the Baghdad-Erbil relationship and to address and resolve relevant outstanding issues including on the disputed territories. The Baghdad-Erbil relationship is a crucial partnership that requires cooperation and a more open dialogue on the basis of the Iraqi Constitution.Iraq certainly has overcome successive conflicts on a hard-won path to stability. Nevertheless, the lasting effects of conflict have given rise to dire and persisting humanitarian needs, with about one million Iraqis remaining internally displaced and that’s a big number. Their full voluntary return and reintegration is still beset by economic, social, security and administrative challenges. Among them are over 100,000 predominantly Yazidis from Sinjar who after 11 years still live in displacement camps under precarious conditions—survivors who have endured untold suffering at the hands of Da’esh.I note with concern that departures from displacement camps have slowed significantly in 2025. These communities require targeted interventions that bridge humanitarian support with long-term development programming—housing, livelihoods, social protection, and community reconciliation. I therefore renew my call for the adoption of a comprehensive national plan to ensure the implementation of durable solutions.I am also deeply concerned about the attacks on Iraqi facilities and infrastructures including the most recent one that took place against oil and gas facilities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This has to stop and those responsible must be brought to justice. Madam President,Iraq showed commendable leadership in launching a concerted effort early this year to accelerate the repatriation of its nationals from northeast Syria. To date, approximately 20,800 people have returned to Iraq—no small feat, by any measure. As returns continue, last one taking place just yesterday, it remains essential for adequate resources to be directed toward ensuring dignified and sustainable reintegration, including reliable access to basic services, livelihoods, and community-level support. Having met with displaced Iraqis and heard of their plight first-hand, I am heartened by the Government’s continued commitment—reiterated during the High-Level International Conference on Repatriation held in New York last September —to complete the return of all Iraqi nationals from northeastern Syria by the end of this year.As I congratulate Iraq on its election as a member of the Human Rights Council, I would like to note that this membership comes with a corresponding responsibility to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights. Many challenges remain in this respect, notably for ensuring full protection and fulfillment of the rights of minorities, women and youth, and continuing to uphold freedom of expression as a cornerstone of open public dialogue in a strong democratic society. This also includes respect of the rights of girls and refraining from underage marriages. I am confident that Iraq’s leaders (including religious leaders) will continue to address these issues as the country moves into a new chapter of partnership with the United Nations.Turning to matters concerning Iraq and Kuwait, we look forward to transferring the mandate on missing Kuwaiti and third-country nationals and missing property, including the national archives, from UNAMI to a Senior Representative as decided by this august Council. While some progress was marked few years back, more than 300 persons, most of them Kuwaitis, remain missing, as are the national archives. I hope that with the new Senior Representative mechanism in place, both Iraq and Kuwait will renew efforts to advance the closure of these files. I encourage both Iraq and Kuwait to maintain strong relations based on the principles of good-neighborliness, respect for the United Nations Charter and international law, as well as the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of states. The meetings held in July and September, and just few days ago in November, by the joint Kuwait-Iraq technical and legal committee to delimit the maritime boundary beyond point 162 are welcome indicators, in this regard. However, they have to lead to practical and concrete results, in the interest of both countries. Let me say, once again, I do not see any reason whatsoever why Iraq and Kuwait should not enjoy the best relations. Regaining eroded trust requires concrete steps not to repeat mistakes of the past. Madam President, dear colleaguesThe start of next year opens a new chapter in Iraq’s long-standing and deep-rooted partnership with the United Nations. UNAMI’s departure does not mark an end to the Iraq-UN partnership. Rather, it represents the start of a new chapter rooted in Iraq’s leadership of its own future. The United Nations will continue standing by Iraq to build on its hard-won gains, through the provision of technical expertise, advice and programmatic support by the UN Country Team on matters such as inclusive economic growth, climate resilience, human rights, displacement and the full and meaningful participation of women, youth and minorities.In closing, Madam President, dear colleagues, distinguished members of this esteemed council, let me say that it has been a distinct pleasure serving the people of Iraq and leading UNAMI. I wish to reaffirm my full confidence in the resilience of the Iraqi people and the determination of their leaders to tackle whatever challenges which may lie ahead, as they have so commendably done over the last twenty years. I call on them to strive to build bridges of trust and friendship, promote common interests with all the neighboring countries and to regain the glory of Iraq as the cradle of civilization. I wish to thank all the staff of UNAMI who served with commitment and dedication throughout the Mission’s mandate and made possible its implementation. I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Fijian and Nepalese United Nations Guard Units for their unwavering commitment and exemplary service that have been invaluable to our mission.Lastly, I would like to thank Member States and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres, for the confidence they have placed in me to carry out this task expressing my aspiration to serve the noble principles of this Organization.Thank you very much.