A draft proposal to amend Iraq’s Environmental Protection and Improvement Law was submitted to parliament by the Ministry of Environment and the local community in Basra.
If passed, the law would force environmentally polluting entities, including fossil fuel companies, to pay environmental taxes. The proposed draft also suggests that these funds be redistributed to directly impacted communities through decentralized, locally managed mechanisms.
The initiator and co-drafter of the proposal, founder of Green Rights organization Falah Al-Amiri, told Raseef22 he believes that “economic, social, political, and security issues, including social and food insecurity, all have environmental roots, and are fundamentally caused by environmental degradation.”
The proposed amendments to Law No. 27 of 2009 are grounded in Article 33 of the Iraqi Constitution, which affirms the right of every individual to live in safe environmental conditions and obliges the state to protect biodiversity.
If passed, Iraq's law would force environmentally polluting entities, including fossil fuel companies, to pay environmental taxes. The proposed draft also suggests that these funds be redistributed to directly impacted communities through decentralized, locally managed mechanisms.
The focus of the amendments is to legally enforce environmental justice, primarily by implementing the ‘Polluters Pay’ and the ‘Producer Responsibility’ principles, Al-Amiri explained. The amendments target individuals, private sector companies, infrastructure and service contractors, government institutions, public entities, and international firms in the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors.
The proposal introduces environmental taxes, which would operate on two fronts. First, as a deterrent tool: a progressive tax applied to anyone using natural resources, including state institutions, private sector companies, and foreign firms.
“The more they pollute, the higher the tax. This aims to curb reckless behavior by producers and extractive industries who exploit natural elements to maximize profits,” Al-Amiri said.
Second, these taxes would be a new revenue source for the Environment Protection and Improvement Fund, which currently suffers from underfunding and relies mostly on weak international donations, he stated.
The amendments call for the establishment of an environmental protection fund in each Iraqi governorate. 80 percent of the revenues would go to the respective governorate, and 20 percent to the central fund at the Ministry of Environment. Local funds will follow their own distribution mechanisms and provincial councils will be tasked with setting annual distribution plans through environmental investment projects or direct compensation. Planning sessions will be open and involve civil society organizations to ensure transparency and inclusiveness.
A Human Rights Watch report released in March lists decades of conflict-related pollution, a de-prioritization of environmental policy, weak environmental protections, and mismanagement of natural resources as reasons why Iraq’s landscape has decimated.
The draft proposal started with a grassroots petition in Basra, which Al-Amiri launched in collaboration with Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa (MENA), garnering a wide public outreach of over 13 thousand signatures.
“In Basra, as pollution levels increased, we saw a rise in related problems… cancer, kidney failure, and childhood leukemia. I’ve seen their suffering and the pain of their families,” Al-Amiri said. Over 9,000 new cancer cases are recorded annually in Basra alone, as per estimates from The Human Rights Commission in Basra, with a yearly increase of 10 percent, according to the Basra Oncology Center.
Greenpeace MENA, through its Stop Drilling, Start Paying (SDSP) campaign, also provided policy consultation and co-developed the amendments with environmental experts and advocates. The suggested amendments were presented to the Ministry of Environment, amid a process to review the law which was already taking place in parliament.
“I’ve witnessed displacement and migration, and the resulting economic hardship and job scarcity,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’ve observed shifts in local climate patterns, the increase in dust storms, desertification, declining rainfall, and the rise of saltwater intrusion from the sea.”
In March 2024, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded over 140,000 displaced people because of drought and land degradation in Iraq.
A Human Rights Watch report released in March lists decades of conflict-related pollution, a de-prioritization of environmental policy, weak environmental protections, and mismanagement of natural resources as reasons why Iraq’s landscape has decimated.
The HRW report named Basra in particular, referring to a 2018 water crisis which caused the hospitalization of about 120,000 people, and led to thousands of citizens joining mass protests against local and federal government authorities.
One of the Middle East’s most oil dependent nations, Iraq as a whole faces severe environmental and climate issues. The International Energy Agency (IEA)’s 2025 Climate hazard assessment found that Iraq experienced an average warming rate of 0.48 °C per decade, exceeding the global average of 0.37 °C.
The country suffers from extreme weather patterns, such as intense rainfall following prolonged periods of drought, increasingly violent sand and dust storms, and a sharp decline in water bodies, some of which are entirely disappearing, “a combination that threatens millions of lives and livelihoods,” the IEA assessment highlights.
Governments and civil society organizations in the Global South have been calling on historically polluting countries and international fossil fuel companies to pay for the climate and environmental crisis they have caused, highlighting the damages affecting the most vulnerable communities.
Governments and civil society organizations in the Global South have been calling on historically polluting countries and international fossil fuel companies to pay for the climate and environmental crisis they have caused, highlighting the damages affecting the most vulnerable communities.
A Loss and Damage fund was approved at the COP28 United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in 2023. However, the United States, the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, withdrew from the fund in March. As of April, a total of USD 768 million has been pledged to the Fund, less than 0.2% of the economic and non-economic losses developing countries are facing. Estimates for the annual cost of the damage have varied from $100 to $580 billion.
“By demanding to enshrine the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle in national law, Iraq has the opportunity to set a precedent that prioritizes people over profits…If passed, Iraq would become the first country in the region to adopt and implement the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle in national legislation, signaling a critical shift in environmental governance and regional leadership on climate justice,” Kenzie Azmi, Regional Campaigns Lead for the SDSP campaign, said in a press release.
“Green rights are constitutionally protected in Iraq. The Iraqi tax authority is rigorous, strict, and reliable in enforcing tax obligations. Additionally, the government’s desire to diversify revenue sources, especially with the growing budget deficit, adds further motivation.”
Civil society in Iraq expects a “tough phase of opposition, mostly political opinions from fossil fuel companies, which influence decision-making,” Al- Amiri said.
If the law passes, Al-Amiri believes it will be properly enforced. “Green rights are constitutionally protected in Iraq. The Iraqi tax authority is rigorous, strict, and reliable in enforcing tax obligations. Additionally, the government’s desire to diversify revenue sources, especially with the growing budget deficit, adds further motivation.”
In parliament, the objections to amending Law No. 27 of 2009 stem from a lack of understanding or short-sightedness, Al-Amiri explained, adding that there are also vested interests and political rivalries among some parties, which are expected to resist adopting the proposed principles.
The “outdated law,” which was last amended 16 years ago, and the emergence of new investment contracts in extractive industries and public services infrastructure, “makes an update essential,” he noted.
“This Parliament has a historic opportunity to address the root cause of many of Iraq’s problems,” said Al-Amiri. “Our strength lies in the will of supporters who are committed to pushing this amendment and achieving environmental justice.”
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