In the southern Iraqi town of Chibaish, Mansour Abbas stood on the edge of his “mashoof,” the canoe-like vessel used by inhabitants of Iraq’s marshes, holding his young son’s arms in his hands. The boat was pulled onto the shore of a small waterway, much bigger just a couple of years earlier, that connects to the Euphrates River. The sun beat down on the land from a cloudless sky. A small group of water buffalo, their white spots dyed orange with henna, clustered in the shade just a few yards away. The only thing interrupting endless blue in the distance was an oil well, shooting a straight line of fire into the sky.

Abbas, 40, relocated to this area in 2015. Before that, he’d lived deeper in the marshland. There, he’d caught fish and reared a flourishing herd of 55 water buffalos, he said. Much of the local economy revolved around the gifts given by water buffalo. Locals would sell their milk or turn it into white cheese or a local heavy cream delicacy called geymar. But when the water near his home drained, Abbas could no longer fish. Most of his herd fell ill and died, leaving him with just five water buffalo. He still dreams of going back to his old home, but “there’s no water there,” he said.

Iraq is the fifth most vulnerable nation on the planet when it comes to water and food security. But Iraq is also currently OPEC’s second largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabia, pumping out 4.5 million barrels of oil per day. Oil revenues exceeded $115 billion in 2022, according to the country’s oil ministry. That revenue helps pay public sector salaries and food imports.