Flares of despair: the human costs of Iraq’s oil – in pictures
Flares of despair: the human costs of Iraq’s oil - in pictures | Global development | The Guardian
Flares of despair: the human costs of Iraq’s oil – in pictures
Pollution and extraction of water are having a huge impact on local communities. High rates of cancer and respiratory problems are the norm, while marshes dry out and fish die in the rivers
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Zubair Clothes are hung to dry on a road tanker waiting to be loaded. Truck drivers transport the oil byproducts from the Zubair field to factories in the south and east of the country, where they are used mostly to make asphalt. Drivers are paid about 20,000 Iraqi dinars (£13) for each tonne transported and one truck can hold up to 30 tonnes
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Nahr Bin Umar The homes of Noufel Abdallah Khaldi, 35, and his relatives are next to the oilfield. He grew up here, and lost his cousin and two neighbours to cancer. He is worried that his eight children often suffer with respiratory problems, but they have nowhere else they can go, he says
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Al Khora The carcass of a water buffalo on the ground where Basra’s northern marshes once used to provide a living for the local community of farmers and fishers. Water has become increasingly scarce over the past 10 years, and local people say the marshes dried out completely this year after an Italian company built a water station to provide water for the oilfields
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Basra A refinery worker has his lung capacity tested by Dr Saadi Hadi at the local centre for occupational health and safety. Hadi says that oil and gas workers often have respiratory problems as they do not use masks or other protective equipment. In 2022, the centre tested 18,077 workers but the results were not made public
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Al Khor Mahdi Mutir, 57, is a father of five and used to fish in Basra’s northern marshes. From his village he can see the smoke from the Zubair oilfield. He says that after 2021, as a result of a new water station built by an oil company, the marshes dried up. In Iraq, oil companies inject water into the wells to extract oil. Water is partly extracted from canals and rivers
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Abu al-Musammar A child plays with a water buffalo in the area north of Basra. In recent years, the marshes have almost completely dried up, depriving the community of fish and grazing for their livestock
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