Iraq is losing between 5 and 8 percent of its gross domestic product to environmental degradation each year, while the amount of water available per person has dropped by more than half since the late 1970s, according to a new government study.

 

Backed by the United Nations and the World Bank, the report found that Iraq’s environment has suffered severe decline in recent years due to decades of war, a growing population and increasing pressure on natural resources.

 

The quality and quantity of the country’s water has been harmed by upstream damming, pollution, climate change and inefficient usage, and its cropland is shrinking.

 

The amount of water available per person per year fell from 5,900 cubic metres in 1977 to 2,400 cubic metres in 2009 - a situation made worse by droughts between 2005 and 2009.

 

The Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, Iraq’s two major sources of surface water, could dry up by 2040 if current conditions continue, the report warned.

 

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Sunday it had signed a five-year strategic cooperation agreement with the Iraqi government aimed at strengthening efforts to overcome many of the country's environmental challenges.

 

The programme will focus on environmental legislation and regulation, conserving biodiversity, developing a green economy, making production cleaner, more efficient resource use, combating dust storms, and climate change reporting and action, UNEP said in a statement.

 

Iraq is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the Arab region, according to a 2012 U.N. fact sheet.

 

UNEP has been working with the Iraqi administration since 2003 on projects including post-conflict environmental assessments, restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands and cleaning up highly contaminated sites.