Everything is polluted in Iraq: the air, the water and the land

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[size=52]Everything is polluted in Iraq: the air, the water and the land[/size]

[size=45]On World Environment Day
, everything is polluted in Iraq: air, water and land[/size]
[size=45]As the world prepares to celebrate World Environment Day, tomorrow, Wednesday, the Iraqi environment still faces serious challenges related to environmental pollution and environmental mismanagement, after half a century of neglect, futility, and marginalization of this issue.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq is facing a worsening water crisis due to the decline in the levels of the main rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) as a result of dams built in the upstream countries (Turkey and Iran), where water levels have decreased to more than 50 percent compared to what they were in the twentieth century, and the percentage of the population who do not have access to Clean water by about 15 percent, with major challenges in rural areas.[/size]
[size=45]Declining biodiversity
For its part, the Ministry of Environment recently confirmed that ecosystems in Iraq are exposed to many threats, while setting three conditions for preserving biodiversity in Iraq.
Director General of the Ministry’s Technical Department, Najla Mohsen Al-Waeli, said: “Biodiversity is necessary for human life, directly or indirectly, as direct uses include aspects such as food, medicine, and multiple biological uses, while indirect uses include ecosystem services such as regulating the atmosphere.” The cycle of water and nutrients, in addition to industrial raw materials, etc.
She added, “Biodiversity plays an effective role in providing various genetic resources for agriculture, which are important for the vital basis of global food security and supporting human life,” stressing that “Ecosystems in Iraq provide a wide range of services to humans living in both urban and rural environments.” .
She pointed out that “Ecosystems and biodiversity in Iraq are exposed to many threats, such as climate change, water scarcity, high temperatures, and scarcity of rain, which have led to the deterioration of ecosystems and their biodiversity.”
She continued, “One of the most important reasons for the decline in biodiversity is the loss, fragmentation, and isolation of habitats. For example, the marshes of Mesopotamia lost more than 90 percent of their original area due to the water diversion policy during the eighties and nineties, and the increase in the amount of greenhouse gases represents the main factor in The occurrence of global warming or global warming.
She pointed out that “efforts to preserve biological diversity require registering and documenting species, reference classification of local organisms, genetic conservation, as well as declaring and registering protected areas, in addition to legislation and laws related to protecting biological diversity.”[/size]
[size=45]We want actions, not words
. For his part, the academic and environmental expert, Dr., said. Shukri Al-Hassan, on the occasion of World Environment Day: I believe that celebrating such a day is a reminder to human beings that they must preserve the environment in which they live, to preserve this planet because they have no alternative to living other than this planet and the environment it contains, and that any harm to this The consequences of the environment will negatively affect their livelihood, their lives, their health, and their livelihood.
Al-Hassan added, saying to “The People’s Way,” that “we must be aware of the necessity of preserving the environment with all the living or non-living components it contains, otherwise life will become more difficult in the future, if “How deeply we have gone into destroying the environment, polluting it, destroying it, and diminishing it.”
He pointed out that “celebrating Environment Day is a reminder to all of us that we must be aware of this blessing, protect it and preserve it. In Iraq today there are a number of dangers that threaten the environment of this country.” “We have serious threats related to pollution, our rivers are polluted, our air and our soil are polluted, and this means more diseases and ill health for people.”
Al-Hassan continued, saying: “We also have a serious threat, due to the effects of climate change, water scarcity and scarcity, desertification, drought, excessive rise in temperatures, and high evaporation rates, all of which cast a shadow on the environment of this country, make living conditions there more difficult, and lead to the erosion of the ecosystem. Which is the basis of life in every region.”
He noted that there is another type of threat “represented by urban expansion, at the expense of green lands, and this is the result of population increase, urban growth, etc.,” stressing that this causes “severe repercussions as a result of the loss of lands and all the advantages and benefits they contain.”
Regarding environmental challenges, he said: “The challenges are many, and they are fueled by the population explosion, which causes more pressure and burdens on our environment, and thus more deterioration and serious repercussions.”
The environmental expert said, “The extent of the damage to Iraq’s environment is great, and we have irreparable and irreparable losses over the past decades: Our loss of the palm groves for which Basra was famous is irreparable, and our loss of large parts of the marshes in southern Iraq is irreparable.” It is difficult to repair, even if there are patchwork attempts. While the damage resulting from air and soil pollution entails many environmental difficulties.”[/size]
[size=45]A critical environmental reality.
The head of the Haqab Center for Relief and Sustainable Development, Haider Rashad, stressed that “this occasion should be a starting point for serious thinking about the problems of the environment and what it suffers from, and dealing positively with the environment so that it is healthy and suitable for living, with fewer problems in general and health problems in particular resulting from air, water and soil pollution.” He called on the government to pay attention to Iraq's environment, which has been damaged for half a century or more, and the negative effects on the environment continue to increase.
Rashad said in an interview with “The People’s Way” that “environmental issues have not been taken into consideration for 50 years, and as a result, bad negative environmental impacts have accumulated on Iraq, which was called the land of blackness due to its abundance of agriculture. A country that used to have 30 million palm trees, while their number became less than a million palm trees years ago. “There was no care or interest in environmental issues at all.”
Rashad attributed the reasons for the weak and deficient performance in environmental issues to the restriction of the Ministry of Environment and the weakness of its powers, and its transformation into a supervisory body rather than an executive one, in addition to the lack of financial allocations in its investment aspect.
He added, “The legislator allocates sums to the Baghdad Municipality and the provincial municipalities, which are said to be used to correct the environmental impact,” stressing that “the Ministry of Environment is a sovereign ministry and must have very great decision-making power, not just submit studies and recommendations.”
The speaker believed that the two-decade period of weakening this ministry, stripping it of its broad powers, and not giving it a free hand is a major influential factor.
Rashad pointed out that “in Baghdad now, about 12 thousand tons of waste per day are thrown out by citizens, factories, companies, laboratories, and stores, in exchange for the absence of factories to recycle this waste, treat it, and produce electrical energy from it, as is done in all countries of the world.”
He added: “The Ministry of Environment works in one valley, the Baghdad Municipality in another valley, and the provincial municipalities in a third valley. Until now, we are suffering from a very huge amount of waste in Iraq, amounting to approximately 32 thousand tons per day, and there is no sanitary landfill in Baghdad or most governorates.”
Isn't it time for us to take this day and its issue seriously, and to turn it into an opportunity to think about the environmental crises that are plaguing the country, starting from air and water pollution to land degradation, threats to biodiversity, and waves of mass extinction that our unique organisms face?
While the Prime Minister pledged to give this file priority and attention, and to put several programs in his government curriculum, we find that the financial allocations to the Ministry never rise to the scale of the critical environmental reality that we face, as the Ministry of Environment is still a “regulatory body” with restricted powers. At a time when we are suffering from the effects of the oil industries, ineffective waste management, and the lack of strict environmental policies.[/size]
[size=45]Air pollution:
Industrial and transportation pollution sources contribute to high levels of air pollution in major cities such as Baghdad and Basra. It is estimated that levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) far exceed the safe limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
To clarify, PM2.5 are fine air pollutant particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, which are so small that they can penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing serious health problems such as heart and lung disease, strokes, and cancer.
These particles are composed of various chemicals such as sulfates, nitrates, black carbon and other organic materials, and originate from multiple sources including fuel combustion in vehicles, industrial emissions, coal and oil burning, and agricultural and forest fires.
PM2.5 is considered one of the most dangerous types of air pollutants because of its small size and its ability to spread in the atmosphere over long distances and remain in the air for long periods.
The problem of desertification threatens 39 percent of Iraq's lands, affecting agricultural production and vegetation, while the percentage of degraded agricultural lands has reached about 54 percent in recent years.[/size]
[size=45]Biodiversity:
The marshes of southern Iraq were severely affected by climate change and low water levels, which led to a significant decline in the numbers of animal and plant species, and the extinction of many species. Studies estimate that about 60 percent of the wetlands in these marshes have dried up since the 1980s to the present day.
More than 130,000 people were displaced between 2016 and 2023 due to the effects of climate change, with expectations that this number will increase if current conditions continue, while specialists say that the numbers are much larger and have exceeded the one million mark over the years.[/size]
[size=45]Our land...our future.
The United Nations said on its official website that “environmental systems face increasing threats all over the world.” “From forests and drylands to agricultural lands and lakes, these natural spaces on which humanity’s existence depends are reaching a point of collapse.”
She added that according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, “up to 40 percent of the planet’s land is degraded, which directly affects about half of the world’s population.” “The average duration of drought has increased by 29 percent since 2000 – and without urgent action, droughts could affect more than three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050.”
She stressed that “land restoration is a fundamental pillar of the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), which is a global call to protect and revive ecosystems around the world, which is crucial to achieving sustainable development goals.”
She pointed out that for this reason, “World Environment Day 2024 will focus on restoring lands, stopping desertification, and building drought resistance under the slogan “Our Earth, Our Future.” “Together we restore our planet,” indicating that “We cannot turn back time, but we can plant forests and revive Water sources, soil restoration. We are the generation that can coexist peacefully with the Earth.”
It should be noted that the year 2024 will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (NCCD) will be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, from 2 to 13 December 2024. “The People’s Way” newspaper, p. 4,
Tuesday 6/4/2024[/size]
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