GREENING BASRA: An environmentalist’s work is never done

By Nagham Maki in Basra

In the busy offices of the Organization for Public Services and Sustainable Development, or Ozon,  founder and environmental activist Fadwa Toma is surrounded by stacks of reports and forms. Toma’s days are always busy. She reads updates on her laptop and her phone buzzes almost constantly with messages from volunteers, her team and partner organisations.

Despite the many demands of her work, Toma is certain of her mission: Transforming the southern Iraqi city of Basra into a cleaner and more sustainable city.

Recent efforts include her “Plant a Tree, Get Elected” initiative where local political candidates were encouraged to plant trees as a sign of their commitment to protecting the environment.

Toma’s environmental activism first began back in 2012 when youth groups, mostly coming together on Facebook, were working to foster a sense of citizenship in Basra’s younger generation.

“I joined groups aiming to promote civic responsibility, despite the difficult circumstances,” she recalls. “In 2012, when the first environmental campaign was launched in Basra, I was the only woman involved. I even spoke to the Iraqi Network magazine under the false name ‘Basra’s flower’, ” she recalls laughing.

Her first project involved a group of just five people, was funded entirely by the volunteers, and saw them cleaning the streets of Basra themselves. The project caught the attention of locals and officials, and within a month, the group had attracted around 200 volunteers.

“We started small but spread a message of collective responsibility for cleanliness,” Toma explains. “The initiative made a tangible difference and it built community engagement.”

In 2018, Toma extended her activism by participating in the “Dose of Hope” initiative, which advocates for the rights of Iraqi cancer patients.

She also joined the first environment-focused conference in Basra, where she discussed rising pollution levels caused by oil companies and the subsequent health risks, including cancer.

“The pollution crisis in Basra is directly linked to gas emissions from oil extraction and the widespread burning of waste,” she argues, “and this is a real threat to public health.”

The Iraqi Cancer Registry found that in 2020, Basra had one of the highest incidences of cancer in Iraq, with 76.3 cases per 100,000 people. The average in all of Iraq is around 79 cases per 100,000. Since the early 2000s, there’s been a significant increase in cancer diagnoses here and even anecdotally many locals attribute the disease to the toxic environment caused by industrial activity.

“The most painful moments for me were seeing children suffering from cancer,” Toma said of this side of her work. “I felt so helpless.”

There are many other problems for the environment in and around Basra though. Global warming is bringing severe desertification and soil salinization. Urban expansion has destroyed local orchards and oil extraction continues to pollute the environment in multiple ways.

Currently Toma leads a climate adaptation project in Basra’s northern marshes, which is trying to protect biodiversity and combat overfishing by educating local fishermen about sustainable practices. The project also seeks to curb illegal fishing methods, such as using electricity or chemicals to kill fish. Both damage marine ecosystems.

Toma has also worked with international organisations such as the Netherlands-based Clingendael Institute.

Future plans for the organisation include continuing to educate young Iraqis, to instil a sense of environmental responsibility in young people and potentially even as part of the curriculum at local schools. She’s also pushing for the local government to invest in recycling plants, something that could possibly help generate economic growth in Basra while also addressing the region’s waste problem.

Although Toma is determined to do this work, there are also challenges, especially for a woman in a male-dominated field in Iraq, she explains. “At first, my family opposed my involvement in environmental activism due to their safety concerns, but over time, they began to support it,” Toma recounts.

She believes her success has also proven to be an example for other women and girls in the southern city. “More families now encourage their daughters to participate in environmental efforts,” she notes. “Two women currently hold executive positions in our organization and many local civil society organizations are led by women. We hope this trend continues into government institutions.”

And Toma has also found that an environmentalist’s work is never done. After a long day, she walks home through the streets of Basra but as she does, she quietly  documents pollution violations she sees, with a view to reporting them to local authorities.

“Rivers and trees don’t have a voice to defend themselves, so it’s up to us to speak for them,” she explains her life’s work.

This article is part of a series supported by the “Qarib” program, a regional initiative funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and implemented by the French Media Development Agency (CFI).