The air we breathe: How pollution is quietly rewriting Iraq’s future
Shafaq News
Iraq is confronting a widening environmental emergency that now reaches every corner of public life. From toxic air blanketing the capital to mounting contamination of rivers and unregulated waste sites, pollution has become one of the country’s most persistent and least addressed threats — a slow-moving crisis reshaping daily life and public health.
This week in Baghdad, authorities closed nearly all access points to Camp al-Rashid, leaving only one gate open. The decision came after an Interior Ministry assessment identified the area as a major source of the capital’s hazardous air, driven by illegal dumping and the burning of accumulated waste. Ministry officials say more than 6,000 inspections have been carried out this year, leading to dozens of closures and 380 legal cases targeting polluters across both public and private sectors. Environmental police have already shut down 121 violating facilities, yet Baghdad’s skies remain among the world’s most polluted. Air-quality monitors frequently show PM2.5 concentrations in the “unhealthy” range, and stagnant winter weather has magnified the problem, trapping exhaust fumes, industrial emissions, and burning waste close to the ground.
A global ranking published recently placed Iraq 37th worldwide and sixth in the Arab region for overall pollution in 2025, a stark measure of how deeply environmental degradation has spread. Officials and experts agree that Iraq’s waste management system sits at the core of the crisis. Open dumps, uncontrolled landfills, and routine waste-burning create continuous sources of airborne toxins. Camp al-Rashid is only the most visible example; problem sites in al-Taji, Abu Ghraib, al-Bayaa, al-Mahmoudiya, and other districts have also been cited for dangerous levels of waste accumulation and open-air burning.
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Interior Ministry spokesman Muqdad Miri told Shafaq News that genuine progress requires modern waste-processing plants capable of recycling and treating urban refuse. Without them, he warned, illegal dumping and burning will continue to undermine public health regardless of how many closures or inspections take place.
The crisis is not limited to the air. Iraq’s rivers, already battered by drought, upstream cuts, and climate pressure, are increasingly polluted by untreated sewage, industrial runoff, and medical waste. Environmental assessments indicate that up to 90% of the country’s rivers now contain contaminants. The World Bank estimates that only 13% of Iraq’s urban wastewater is treated before being discharged into waterways, leaving communities downstream at risk of waterborne disease and further damaging ecosystems once central to agriculture and daily life.
Fears over environmental hazards have also spread to regions far from Baghdad. In Kirkuk, rumors of radioactive contamination at al-Wasiti Girls School fueled public anxiety until the Human Rights Commission intervened with a detailed rebuttal. Officials explained that inspections conducted in 2014 — and again in 2023 using advanced detection equipment — found no trace of radiation in the school. Local representatives accused a television crew of deliberately editing their comments in a misleading way, prompting plans for legal action. Residents told Shafaq News that the site had been cleared two decades earlier and has operated normally since, with no health cases linked to radiation.
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These threats unfold alongside the accelerating toll of climate change. Heatwaves surpassing 50°C, shrinking water reserves, and expanding desertification now interact with pollution to create what scientists describe as overlapping stress layers. Dust storms — increasingly frequent and intense — load the air with particulate matter and further degrade air quality. Roughly 60% of Iraq’s land is at risk of desertification, exacerbating erosion, crop loss, and airborne dust.
Government agencies have begun taking more visible measures, from activating environmental sensors to shutting down unlicensed industrial operations and coordinating inter-agency monitoring. But gaps persist. Only a handful of provinces have functioning air-quality stations. Wastewater treatment remains inadequate. Enforcement is inconsistent, and coordination across ministries is uneven.
For Iraqi families, the consequences are immediate. Doctors warn that continued exposure to polluted air and contaminated water increases risks of asthma, heart disease, cancer, and neurological disorders. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable. Parents describe the haze settling over their homes; farmers note changes in soil and water; and urban residents increasingly fear what they cannot see — the particles in the air, the toxins in the water, the contaminants in the soil.
Experts say a coordinated national strategy, serious investment in environmental infrastructure, and transparent enforcement of environmental law are essential if the country hopes to reverse the trend.
If these steps are not taken, Iraq risks allowing pollution — silent, pervasive, and deadly — to shape its future more than any policy or plan.
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Written and edited by Shafaq News.
