Environmental Challenges and Vanishing Archaeological Landscapes: Remotely Sensed Insights into the Climate–Water–Agriculture–Heritage Nexus in Southern Iraq

Francesca Cigna (), Louise Rayne, Jennifer L. Makovics, Hope K. Irvine, Jaafar Jotheri, Abdulameer Algabri and Deodato Tapete ()
Additional contact information
Francesca Cigna: Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
Louise Rayne: School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
Jennifer L. Makovics: School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
Hope K. Irvine: School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
Jaafar Jotheri: Department of Archaeology, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Diwaniyah 88, Iraq
Abdulameer Algabri: Department of Archaeology, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Diwaniyah 88, Iraq
Deodato Tapete: Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-48

Abstract: Iraq faces significant challenges in sustainable water resource management, due to intensive agriculture and climate change. Modern irrigation leads to depleted natural springs and abandoned traditional canal systems, creating a nexus between climate, water availability, agriculture, and cultural heritage. This work unveils this nexus holistically, from the regional to the local scale, and by considering all the components of the nexus. This is achieved by combining five decades (1974–2024) of satellite data—including declassified HEXAGON KH-9, Copernicus Sentinel-1/2/3, COSMO-SkyMed radar, and PlanetScope’s Dove optical imagery—and on-the-ground observations (photographic and drone surveying). The observed landscape changes are categorised as “proxies” to infer the presence of the given land processes that they correlate to. The whole of southern Iraq is afflicted by dust storms and intense evapotranspiration; new areas are desertifying and thus becoming local sources of dust in the southwest of the Euphrates floodplain and close to the boundary with the western desert. The most severe transformations happened around springs between Najaf Sea and Hammar Lake, where centre-pivot and herringbone irrigation systems fed by pumped groundwater have densified. While several instances of run-off and discharge highlight the loss of water in the western side of the study area, ~5 km 2 wide clusters of crops in the eastern side suffer from water scarcity and are abandoned. Here, new industrial activities and modern infrastructure have already damaged tens of archaeological sites. Future monitoring based on the identified proxies could help to assess improvements or deterioration, in light of mitigation measures.

Keywords: satellite remote sensing; climate change; dust storm; water scarcity; groundwater exploitation; agriculture; cultural heritage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/1013/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/1013/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:1013-:d:1650588

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().