Climate-stressed Iraq says will plant 5 million trees to boost green spaces

Iraq on Sunday unveiled a campaign to combat the severe impacts of climate change on the water-scarce country, including planting five million palms and trees.

Oil-rich yet war-battered, Iraq suffers from extreme summer heat, frequent droughts, desertification, and regular dust storms – problems that are all exacerbated by climate change.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told a climate conference in the city of Basra that over seven million Iraqis were affected by climate change and hundreds of thousands displaced by drought. He cited challenges including “high temperatures, scarcity of rain, and an increase in dust storms,” as well as shrinking green spaces, which threatens “food, health, environmental, and community security," AFP reported.

Sudani added that his government was working on a wider “Iraqi vision for climate action” and was launching “a grand afforestation initiative, which includes planting five million trees and palm trees in all governorates of Iraq.”

Iraq was once dubbed "the country of 30 million palm trees,” but decades of conflict and failing public policies have ravaged the national symbol as urbanization has shrunk traditional green spaces. Lush palm groves that once protected large cities such as Baghdad or Karbala have given way to concrete neighborhoods.

As part of the wider initiative, the government further cited the creation of green belts around cities to act as windbreaks against dust storms. Last year, Iraq was swept by a series of major sand or dust storms that blanketed Baghdad and other areas, causing breathing difficulties for thousands and forcing the closure of airports and schools.