Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir | AFP

Water levels at Iraq's vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing. Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s. Iraq has been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year‑on‑year droughts and rampant desertification.