Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani launched an afforestation initiative to combat desertification and dust storms in a country that is suffering from the effects of climate change and water shortages, Al-Sudani said in his speech at the opening of the conference: changes presented ” high temperatures, lack of rain and increased dust storms with reduced green space, threaten food, health, the environment and public safety.”
He pointed out, according to a statement released by his office, that “more than seven million citizens have been affected by the drought and hundreds of thousands have been displaced because they have lost their livelihoods dependent on agriculture and fishing.” Al-Sudani announced the initiative, which includes “the planting of five million trees and palms in all governorates of Iraq, accompanied by the release of a national guide to urban afforestation for the first time in Iraq.”
In the spring of 2022, Iraq witnessed dozens of dust storms that caused breathing problems for thousands of people who had to go to hospitals for treatment and forced the authorities to temporarily close schools and government offices and suspend flights. Among the measures taken to reduce this phenomenon, the authorities talk about the creation of green belts around cities, as a means of containing dust storms.
Decades of conflict and mismanagement have greatly affected the number of palm trees that once flourished in Iraq. In the past, palm forests surrounded major cities such as Baghdad and Karbala, but today their numbers have dwindled or disappeared and have been replaced by buildings, as the United Nations has warned.
With less rainfall, higher temperatures and increasing desertification, Iraq is among the five countries most vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change in the world, according to the UN.
