The most significant event in 2003 in the political and environmental arena was the war in Iraq. Chronic problems, which accumulated over the past two decades under the former Iraqi government and the economic impact of sanctions, were exacerbated by the war. While the long-term environmental impacts of the war are as yet unclear, the short-term problems included water pollution (Box 3) and land degradation.

Figure 1: Satellite images of smoke from oil trench fires over Baghdad during the Iraq War, 2 April, 2003. Source: USGS EROS Data Center/UNEP/GRID-Sioux Falls

The destruction of military and industrial infrastructure released heavy metals and other hazardous substances into the air, soil and water (UNEP 2003a). Fires at Rumeila oil wells in southern Iraq and in oil trenches in and around Baghdad, generated large quantities of dense black smoke, containing toxic substances, with potential environmental and human health risks for local people (Figure 1). The oil trenches also cause soil pollution and potentially threaten contamination of aquifers and drinking water supplies (UNEP 2003a). Fire at the Al-Mishraq sulphur plant, 30 km south of Mosul in Northern Iraq, which lasted for about a month between June–July 2003 (UNEP 2003a), also contributed to air pollution.
A recent UNEP desk study on the environment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories identifies serious environmental problems, including sewage pollution, waste of water resources and problems with solid waste handling as a result of the escalating Israeli-Arab conflict (UNEP 2003d). The study further states that the relative scarcity of water in the Territories is a major constraint to economic development. The quality of water is rapidly deteriorating, mainly from agricultural practices, localized industrial activities, and inadequate or improper disposal of wastewater and solid waste. Over-pumping has resulted in seawater intrusion of groundwater, especially in Gaza. It also reports that the separation wall would not only separate people from their agricultural land and water wells, but would have environmental impacts, for example, fragmenting ecosystems and disconnecting natural ecological corridors.