The Ministry of Water Resources revealed today, Thursday, a plan to transform Iraq from barren land to green land by planting millions of trees and green oases in the desert as well as around water dams. Minister of Water Resources Awn Diab Abdullah stated that there is a government initiative to convert the country from arid areas to fertile ones, as the ministry prepares to secure water for the initiative to plant five million trees using either underground or surface water.
He added that the afforestation campaign involves several ministries, including agriculture, the Baghdad Municipality, and municipalities, in addition to a popular mobilization initiative to plant around three million palm trees in Al-Samawah desert, as well as planting olive and pomegranate trees that can withstand summer climatic conditions, relying on underground water and using drip irrigation.
Abdullah pointed out the broad planting of desert areas by investors, along with executing the oasis project by the holy shrines in Karbala and Najaf, in addition to constructing a green belt for an oasis stretching 27 km southwest of Karbala to fend off sandstorms, and planting oases with trees in the desert areas of the western, southern, eastern, and northern Badia using underground water.
He indicated that a modern method for artificial groundwater feeding from dams has started to store additional water in wells, along with the initiation of planting 178,000 trees in areas irrigated by surface water around dams to improve the environmental situation, where 15,000 trees have already been planted. He continued that there will soon be a campaign to plant 26,000 trees in Mosul and Dibis dams in Kirkuk, Al-Hindiya, Samarra, Fallujah, Ramadi, and Al-Abbasiya in Kufa, as provinces continue to work on expanding green areas within the project to achieve sustainable development goals, alongside addressing challenges posed by climate change facing the country, according to the government newspaper Al-Sabah.
