![A young man walks on cracked and dried up soil at the Hawizeh marshes, which straddle Iraq's border with Iran, in October 2022. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/PHE77V6NT5CQRFJ5K6JUBQWA6M.jpg?smart=true&auth=760b26dd3c7ba80e3b9f4271cfb5c71a2f10b89ece7e2e52d4846f91d43d979d&width=400&height=225)
A young man walks on cracked and dried up soil at the Hawizeh marshes, which straddle Iraq's border with Iran, in October 2022. AFP
A young man walks on cracked and dried up soil at the Hawizeh marshes, which straddle Iraq's border with Iran, in October 2022. AFP
Water scarcity in the Middle East: how the region is grappling with a resource crisis
From Iraq and Lebanon to Jordan and Egypt, The National's correspondents investigate the extent of the problem and where hope for change may lie