Environment minister backs Najaf cleanup effort
Shafaq News – Najaf
On Sunday, Iraq’s Environment Minister Hewa Lu al-Askari visited Najaf, affirming the government’s support for addressing growing environmental crises, particularly the waste management problem.
During a joint press conference with Najaf Governor Youssef Kanawi, al-Askari announced that Baghdad is paying close attention to Najaf due to its religious, cultural, and historical significance, explaining that the visit focused on tackling key environmental threats such as desertification, climate change, biodiversity loss, and rapid population growth.
The minister noted that the Environment Ministry is working to revise outdated environmental regulations. He also conveyed a message from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani emphasizing the need to resolve Najaf’s environmental issues.
For his part, Governor Kanawi acknowledged that Najaf unresolved environmental files, such as inadequate sewage systems and reliance on foreign cleaning labor, pointing out that many of the Ministry’s efforts remain constrained by outdated regulatory frameworks.
“The Ministry possesses detailed data on the drainage problems in areas like al-Barakiya and al-Mishkhab, but resolving them requires updated laws and new legislation,” the governor stated, indicating that many current challenges have been inherited from past administrations and are actively being addressed.
According to environmental estimates, the city’s 135,000 residential units produce between 1,200 and 1,500 tons of waste daily, not including commercial properties. The waste is transported to landfills that, according to the local Environment Directorate, fail to meet health and safety standards and are in some cases scattered haphazardly across Najaf and its surrounding towns.
