EUAM Conducts Visit to Strengthen Basra Environmental Security

The European Union Advisory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq) has visited the Basra Governorate as part of efforts to strengthen Iraq’s capacity to respond to environmental and climate related challenges in the country’s southern Governorates.

The visit, conducted alongside the head of Basra’s Environmental Police Directorate, aimed to deepen the Mission’s understanding of the specific issues facing Basra and surrounding governorates. Their findings will look to inform future advisory work, specialised programmes and training activities as part of efforts to support Iraq’s civilian sector security reform, including the prevention and enforcement of environmental crime.

Basra, an economic and ecological hub in Southern Iraq, faces a complex set of environmental challenges. In recent years, longer droughts, reduced rainfall, higher temperatures and increasing pollution have resulted in intensified social and economic pressure on communities across the region. Diminishing river flows from both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and subsequent salinity intrusions from the Persian Gulf, have devastated farms and livestock. According to officials from the Ministry of Water Resources, 2025 saw salinity levels in Iraqi rivers that had not been recorded for 89 years.

During the visit, the Mission met with a number of senior regional officials, including the Director of Environment Protection and Improvement in the Southern Region, the Director of the Agricultural Directorate, the Deputy Director of the Water Resources Directorate and the Commander of the Environmental Police in the Southern Region.

Discussions were largely centered around “priority risks”: water scarcity, pollution and land degradation, with the Mission also conducting a review of current enforcement mechanisms aimed at addressing environmental violations.

The delegation carried out visits to Al-Hartha and along the Shatt al-Arab river, where industrial waste from nearby power plants has contaminated local water supplies, constituting a “direct threat to public safety” according to the Iraqi Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee.

EUAM Iraq said the scoping visit underscores the importance of environmental security as part of broader efforts to strengthen stability and resilience. Through enhanced organisational coordination and accountability, the Mission hopes to continue to support Iraqi partners in safeguarding natural resources and building public trust in state institutions.

Source: The European Advisory Mission in Iraq