Iraq – Migration into a Fragile Setting: Responding to Climate-Induced Informal Urbanization and Inequality in Basra (July – August 2021)

Environmental degradation is increasingly and strongly felt in the southern governorates of Iraq. A gradual but consistent decrease of water flow and water quality over the last decades, and worsening in the last 10 years in particular, has meant that the agricultural sector, traditionally the main workforce employer in rural areas, is unable to guarantee sufficient and sustainable livelihoods for the communities living there. A direct consequence of this maladaptation is the forced migration of rural populations, oftentimes towards nearby urban areas including Basra, Nassiriya, and Amara in search of better opportunities to sustain their lives.

This report draws on the results from data covering 802 residents of Basra City (710 local residents and 92 migrants within the last decade), across 49 streets, to identify the particular issues facing high-migration parts of the city that hinder migrants’ ability to sustainably and peacefully integrate in an already fragile urban setting. Data collection was conducted in July and August 2021. 

this report puts forward the need for a two-pronged approach that focuses on enhancing the adaptation capacity of recipient areas such as Basra (and other close-by urban areas) to an increasing population, at the same time as attention is kept on districts currently forcing families to migrate – mostly the rural, neglected hinterland that is the scenario of extreme environmental degradation, absence of diversified economic opportunities, and poor public infrastructure and provision