Shafaq News / The Iraqi Minister of water resources, Mahdi Rashid al-Hamdani, said that the country is receiving decreasing shares of water releases.

The Minister's statement came during his participation in The 9th World Water Forum held in Dakar.

Al-Hamdani said in a speech that Iraq has been going through harsh conditions due to climate change, in addition to receiving decreasing shares of bad-quality water releases, and the destruction of Iraq's water facilities by ISIS in 2014, which negatively affected the agricultural sector.

He stressed Baghdad's continuous efforts to permanently rely on green energy, to implement the outcomes of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference and the Paris Climate Accords, to overcome the water crisis.

Al-Hamdani indicated that the Baghdad International Water Conference stressed Iraq's right to receive fair shares of water releases from upstream countries, and emphasized the importance of cooperation and joint work in this regard.

The 9th World Water Forum, which will take place in Dakar from 21 to 26 March 2022 under the theme "Water security for peace and development", will address the global challenges for man and nature, today and tomorrow. It will accelerate the effective implementation of the global water agenda, which is a prerequisite for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Dakar Forum will have to reinforce actions in the world for universal access to water and sanitation in order to give hope to those hundreds of millions of people deprived of the essentials, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This is a not-to-be-missed event for all stakeholders who will contribute to the success of the Forum of responses.