London Conference Highlights Opportunities to Improve Environmental Response to Conflict Pollution in Iraq

Jul 31, 2017 | Doug Weir
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As the dust settles from the battle to recapture Mosul, and the urgent humanitarian crisis reaches its peak with millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in desperate need of medical help, shelter food and water, Iraq is beginning to reflect on the extent of the damage inflicted by the battle against the so-called Islamic State (IS). Beyond the immediate needs of IDPs, it is becoming clear that recovery and reconstruction will be a huge challenge, requiring billions of dollars to rebuild the country. One element that will need to be addressed, writes Wim Zwijnenburg, but which is rarely prioritised in the reconstruction agenda, is the impact of conflict on the environment and its consequent health risks. Three years of fighting have left major towns and cities including Mosul, Tikrit, Ramadi and Fallujah in ruins. The severe destruction to residential, commercial and industrial areas in the cities is likely to have created environmental hotspots from the release of hazardous industrial chemicals and the build-up of rubble and domestic wastes. Meanwhile, IS has used scorched-earth tactics, polluting rivers with chemicals, and setting fire to 19 oil wells around Qayyarah, as well as to the Mishraq Sulphur factory. Understanding the health risks that have resulted from these serious pollution incidents will require specific expertise and analysis, if we’re to understand the threat they pose to Iraqi civilians and the environment they depend on. To discuss these concerns, the Iraqi Environment and Health Committee in the UK (IEHC-UK) organised a conference on the 8th of July at University College London, attended by Iraqi engineers, medical health professional, environmental experts, PhD students and civil society organisations. The event was sponsored by RSK Group PLC and attendees considered Iraq’s pre-existing pollution problems and the consequences of the latest conflict with IS. In doing so they hoped to provide a starting point for engagement with the international community and the Iraqi government, and to encourage the inclusion of environmental health concerns in the assessment of the conflict and in post-conflict reconstruction.