Al-Sulaymaniyah hosts activities for Kurdistan Environment Day
Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah
Authorities in Al-Sulaymaniyah, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, marked Kurdistan Environment Day on Thursday with a series of environmental activities, including large-scale tree planting campaigns across the city.
Ali Hamed, spokesperson for the province’s Parks
Directorate, told Shafaq News that the activities are part of a broader program
set to continue in the coming days. He added that several organizations will
also launch awareness campaigns to promote environmental responsibility, noting
that “Al-Sulaymaniyah maintains relatively strong environmental conditions due
to its green spaces, which exceed international standards.”
At a press conference, Maarouf Majeed, head of the Future Organization for Environmental Protection, stated that the Kurdistan Parliament in 2008 designated April 16 as an environmental symbol coinciding with the anniversary of the 1987 chemical bombardment campaigns carried out by the Baathist regime.
“The occasion does not receive sufficient attention from
government institutions, civil society organizations, or the media,” he said,
urging the Ministry of Agriculture to capitalize on this year’s rainfall to
expand vegetation cover and increase green spaces to strengthen environmental
resilience.
Majeed pointed out that key environmental challenges in the Kurdistan Region include encroachment on agricultural land, rising pollution levels, urban expansion, and population growth, “all of which have negatively affected environmental conditions.”
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