“Environmental crime”: Illegal logging strips key forest belt in Kirkuk

Shafaq News– Kirkuk

Organized illegal logging is destroying parts of the Qarabak forest in Iraq’s Kirkuk province, residents told Shafaq News on Sunday.

Omar Othman, a local, told Shafaq News that unidentified groups have been cutting down large numbers of mature trees for several days, leaving visible damage to one of the area’s remaining green belts. “What is happening amounts to environmental annihilation.”

Environmental activist Hassan Al-Bayati described the activity as a “full-fledged environmental crime,” warning that continued tree cutting would increase pollution levels, raise temperatures, and worsen desertification in parts of the province. He said weak environmental oversight and lax enforcement had encouraged timber traders to exploit the forests.

The Qarabak forests, Al-Bayati added, are among Kirkuk’s most important natural areas and include tree species that require many years to grow and cannot be easily replaced.

Authorities have stepped up patrols around the forests to prevent further tree cutting or timber transport without official approval, a security source told our agency.

Iraq is experiencing accelerating desertification, with roughly 60% of the country’s land already rendered unusable due to drought and land degradation, according to the Green Iraq Observatory. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that forests only cover around 8,250 square kilometers –roughly 2% of the country’s total land area.

The Kurdistan Region has also lost an estimated 30% or more of its forest cover over the past two decades, according to data from FAO, driven in part by illegal logging, fires, and broader environmental pressures.

Read more: Point of no return? Iraq's fight to save its environment