Climate Change and Iraq

As if Iraqis didn't have enough to worry about . . . James Denselow: Climate Change and Iraq although the author here barely touches upon "climate change," as opposed to long-term degradation of Iraq's environment. However, the recent drought there is one of the worst on record. And virtually any model of global-warming-induced long-term climate change that I've seen leaves Iraq pretty much a wasteland, with low-lying areas devastated by rising sea-levels.

Terrible historical irony here, of course. The irrigated floodplain of Iraq was the original cradle of cities and civilization, as well as one of the two great bread-baskets (along with the Nile) of the ancient Middle Eastern world, and well into the 12th century.

Update: a related report from Iraq Oil Report :

Al-Tal district, located 24 km south-west of Mosul, has witnessed a devastating transformation. Sixty out of 150 villages have been abandoned because of drought, the encroaching desert and insufferable sand storms.