Iraq's ancient marshes die

→ As country dries up, so does a millennia-old way of life.

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Like his father, Iraqi buffalo herder Watheq Abbas grazes his animals in Iraq's southern wetlands, but with persistent drought shrinking marshland where they feed and decimating the herd, his millennia-old way of life is threatened.

"There's no more water, the marshes are dead," said 27-year-old Abbas, who has led his buffaloes to pasture in the marshland for the past 15 years.

"In the past, the drought would last one or two years, the water would return and the marshes would come back to life. Now we've gone without water for five years," he said.

This year has been one of the driest since 1933, authorities said, with summer temperatures topping 50°C across Iraq, which is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.