Oil companies affect people of Basra and cause environmental pollution

Despite the riches and the oil fields of Basra, the city of three million is plagued by extreme poverty and a pollution crisis caused by oil companies, which turned the black gold into a threat to Iraqis’ lives.

Karim Abdul Qais, Director of Basra Environment, told A24 that the lack of commitment of the government and the public sector exacerbated the crisis, and called on the Iraqi government to expedite the solution of this problem, which caused a major health and economic crisis in Iraq, especially Basra.

For his part, Alaa Al-Badran, advisor to the governor of Basra, told the A24 reporter that the standards followed by the Iraqi government are “wrong and very low,” adding that the government should allow the private sector to participate in resolving the crisis.

Citizens complained about the repercussions of the pollution crisis on fishing and agricultural crops due to excessive salinity in the seawater, as the crop dies and withers quickly due to air and soil pollution, as they put it.