Dozens of rotting fish float on the surface of polluted Iraqi marshes in the southern district of Chibayish, on April 14, 2021. In a country where the state lacks the capacity to guarantee basic services, 70 percent of Iraq's industrial waste is dumped directly into rivers or the sea, according to data compiled by the United Nations and academics. The marshland, reputed to be the home of the biblical Garden of Eden, previously faced destruction at the hands of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein and is now jeopardised by poor wastewater management and climate change. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)





A marsh Arab man collects reeds in the wetlands which are typically sold or used locally in Chibayish, Iraq, Saturday, May, 1, 2021. Deep within Iraq's celebrated marsh lands, conservationists are sounding alarm bells and issuing a stark warning: Without quick action, the UNESCO protected site could all but wither away. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)





Water buffalos wade in the waters of the marshes after feeding on grass in the area Chibayish, Iraq, Saturday, May, 1, 2021. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)





Pied Kingfisher birds rest on branches from trees extending from the marshes in Chibayish, Iraq, Saturday, May, 1, 2021. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)





Fishermen unload the day's catch from the marshes into pick-up trucks in Chibayish, Iraq, Saturday, May, 1, 2021. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)





A marsh Arab man collects reeds from the wetlands that will later be sold or used for domestic use, in Chibayish, Iraq, Saturday, May, 1, 2021. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)





A water buffalo walks on the remnants of an old military road built in the marshes by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, Chibayish, Iraq, Saturday, May, 1, 2021. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)





Fire engulfs an oil well in the Bay Hassan oil field, in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, set on fire after being blown up by jihadists, on May 5, 2021. The attackers today killed a policeman before blowing up two oil wells in the northern province claimed by both Iraq's federal government and the Kurds, officials said. A security official told AFP that “Islamic State group assailants” killed a policeman and “wounded two others”. (Photo by Shwan Nawzad/AFP Photo)





An Iraqi worker prepares traditional sweets for sale during the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a shop in Baghdad, Iraq on April 28, 2021. (Photo by Saba Kareem/Reuters)





Muslim women pray in the shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani during the holy month of Ramadan in Baghdad, Iraq, May 4, 2021. (Photo by Teba Sadiq/Reuters)





People attend Eid al-Fitr prayer marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at the oldest Al-Masfi mosque, which was damaged during the war against Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq on May 13, 2021. (Photo by Abdullah Rashid/Reuters)





Iraqi men eat traditional “Masmouta”, a Basra fish meal, during Eid al-Fitr in Basra, Iraq, May 14, 2021. (Photo by Essam al-Sudani/Reuters)





Demonstrators climb a structure during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq on May 25, 2021. (Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)





An Iranian woman holds her passport as she shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote during Iranian presidential election at the Iranian consulate, in Najaf, Iraq, June 18, 2021. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)





Members of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) carry the mock coffins of fellow members of PMF, who were killed by U.S. air strikes on the Syria-Iraq border, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, June 29, 2021. (Photo by Saba Kareem/Reuters)





Iraqi boys sit under a poster of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq on June 21, 2021. The text at the top left of the poster reads “The Solid Structure”. The text at the bottom right of the poster reads “Saraya al-Salam, operation command of holy Samarra”. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters)





A worker carries a carp freshwater fish at a breeding site in Iraq's central city of Najaf, on June 13, 2021. (Photo by Ali Najafi/AFP Photo)





Crowds of people gather for an anti-government demonstration over killing off civil activists and poor services in Tahrir Square in the center of Iraq's capital Baghdad on May 25, 2021. Clash erupted between the security forces and the protesters who wanted to move to the Green Zone where government buildings are located. (Photo by Murtadha Al-Sudani/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)





Shi'ite worshipers read the Koran at the Grand Mosque, during the holy month of Ramadan, in Kufa near the holy city of Najaf, Iraq on May 5, 2021. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)