The Green Belt project moves between governments without results

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[size=52]The Green Belt project moves between governments without results[/size]

[size=45]The Baghdad Municipality announced the resumption of work on implementing the Green Belt Project within an area of ​​940 dunums west of the capital, by planting 120,000 trees.[/size]
[size=45]The population crisis, cutting down trees, bulldozing orchards and turning them into residential plots, and many other reasons have made the desertification crisis at its highest levels, as dust storms spread in the country, which endangered normal life in Iraq, completing the scene with the ongoing drought crisis.[/size]
[size=45]International centers and reports issued by the United Nations confirmed the presence of more than 150 environmental hotspots in the country. As for agriculture, it showed that Iraq needs to plant 14 billion trees in areas where desertification is widespread.[/size]
[size=45]Many projects are put on the table for discussions by the government, but many of them do not address this problem. In other discussions, a decision on the problem of desertification is postponed in various ways, which threatens its survival with great environmental risks.[/size]
[size=45]Environmental experts indicated that this project was completed through funding, and despite the allocations made available, only a small part of it, with a length of 76 kilometers, was completed.[/size]
[size=45]Many environmental problems in Iraq threaten the lives of citizens, from desertification to drought and livelihoods to water scarcity, while environmental specialists indicated that Iraq loses about 100 thousand dunums (about 250 square kilometers or 97 square miles) of agricultural land every year. .[/size]
[size=45]The green belt project in the country has turned into an ongoing and insoluble crisis, as successive governments only talk about the possibility of creating areas in areas where desertification is spreading outside the cities, but with no significant results.[/size]
[size=45]Many specialists have confirmed that Iraq needs a wide vegetation cover, not like the belt that was established in some cities with a distance of 100 meters or a little more. Rather, we need a planted area extending for several kilometers to get rid of desertification and dust waves. They pointed out, “In order to implement green belt cultivation, it is necessary to provide a source of water, a modern irrigation system, as well as a source of electrical energy, with workers to operate the systems.”[/size]
[size=45]The Ministry of Agriculture, in turn, confirmed that it is interested and concerned with the Green Belt, but it is one of the tasks of the Baghdad Municipality and the municipalities in the governorate, because the Ministry’s work area is the agricultural lands that are located outside the boundaries of the Baghdad Municipality and the municipal borders, and the Ministry’s role is focused on the technical side, and to be supportive and supportive of this project.[/size]
[size=45]She added that the ministry's work is focused on the directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture, which we have directed to support the technical side, and on our part as a ministry, we indicate that there is a delay in the work, and this delay came due to the fact that the lands through which the Green Belt passes are either privately owned or contracted under laws such as Law (35 and Law 117). Therefore, we face the problem of how to solve these bottlenecks. How does the contractor terminate his contract? If it is private property, there must be compensation and it has its own contexts, and there is another important aspect, which is how to sustain it? There must be a continuous financial allocation in addition to continuous water revenues.[/size]
[size=45]Specialists explained that establishing the Green Belt requires specifying the coordinates, then establishing the belt. It is not required that the belt revolve around cities, but it can be longitudinal, following the needs of the country. Cooperation can also take place with neighboring countries in completing the project and financing it with money, technology and expertise. For example For example, Iran benefits from the establishment of a green belt that prevents dust coming from the west and southwest, where Africa and the ends of western Asia are located.[/size]
[size=45]They explained that the Green Belt project will contribute to creating job opportunities for thousands of Iraqi citizens from various governorates, stimulating the national economy, and learning to practice other professions and economic activities, so that the length of the national belt will be approximately (1000) km, with an average width of 3 km, and based on 20 square meters per tree and assuming a ratio Success in tree planting is 70% (i.e. 30% death of plantings). The project needs (220) million trees of various types, fruitful or non-fruitful.[/size]
[size=45]The Baghdad Municipality confirmed that the conversion of agricultural lands to residential has contributed significantly to the increase in temperatures in Iraq, in addition to the spread of private generators and the increase in the number of cars. She added, “The most important solution to reduce temperatures is to plant special types of trees, taking into account reducing construction, cars, and generators.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that Iraq made many attempts to cultivate the green belt 30 years ago, but this project did not succeed because the government embarked on this project in an arbitrary and ill-considered manner.[/size]
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