Environment Ministry calls for strategy to combat desertification
A dried land. Photo: Canva
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Environment, on Thursday, called for developing a national strategy supported by an annual budget to combat climate change and desertification in the country, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
“The climate change and its negative impacts on Iraq are clearly visible,” The Iraqi Minister of Environment, Jasesim Al-Falahi, said in a statement cited by INA.
Falahi explained that United Nations reports confirm that Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most affected by climate change, according to INA.
The Minister of Environment also elaborated that the country is facing an unprecedented scarcity of rainfall and water leading to an increase in desertification rates and decrease in available fertile land.
Falahi clarified that Iraq loses 100 square kilometres every year due to desertification and desert encroachment.
The Minister of Environment considered the increased sand dunes in areas used to be fertile and promising for agricultural production a dangerous phenomenon.