Ministry condemns flamingos poaching in UN heritage-listed city
Photos circulated on social networks show flamingo poaching and trading activities in southern Iraq.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s water resources ministry has condemned poaching activities targeting flamingo birds at southern Iraqi provinces, including at sites enlisted as heritage spots by the United Nations.
It said in a statement on Tuesday that social networks have been circulating photos depicting the poaching and selling of flamingo birds at the Ahwar region and neighboring areas. It deemed the practices as “inappropriate and at odds with Iraq’s international commitments, especially with Ahwar enlisted on the world heritage list.”
“The ministry condemns those violations and urges local authorities in Basra, Dhi Qar and Maysan, as well as civil bodies and civilians, to denounce those practices and to take necessary measures to….preserve environmental and biological diversity in Iraq.”
In July, UNESCO placed the region of Ahwar among world heritage spots, describing it as a “refuge of biodiversity” and a “relict landscape of the Mesopotamian cities”. It added that “the Ahwar of Southern Iraq – also known as the Iraqi Marshlands – are unique, as one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, in an extremely hot and arid environment.”
The region represents a national reserve for many plants, wild and domesticate animals, besides migrant and migrant birds.
“The Ahwar is made up of seven components: three archaeological sites and four wetland marsh areas in southern Iraq,” UNESCO website says.