Dust storms, drought may lead to displacement in Iraq

On Monday, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights warned that drought and dust storms may cause displacement in the country, especially from the southern regions.

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights quoted experts in its report published on its official website, warning of what they described as "the authorities' neglect" of climate change in the country, and its latest effects are frequent strong dust storms, which puts the country and its residents before an imminent disaster that may lead to new waves of displacement.

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights reviewed a study by the Iraqi Ministry of Environment years ago, in which the Regional Director of the United Nations Environment Program - West Asia Office, Iyad Abu Al-Mughli, wrote a speech in which he said that "92% of Iraq's area is subject to desertification."

According to Iraqi officials, Iraq loses about 100,000 dunams of agricultural land annually out of 32 million dunams of agricultural land across the country, and this is all because of the so-called unstudied “investment” that wiped out a large proportion of green agricultural areas in Baghdad and other cities.

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights called on the authorities responsible for determining Iraq's financial budget and its disbursement resources to allocate part of the budget of 2022, and the following years, to climate issues to avoid "the catastrophe of exacerbating climate change."

Iraq once again closed airports and public buildings on Monday as another sandstorm -- the ninth since mid-April -- hit the country, authorities said.

Dust storms already existed in the country during dry seasons, however, the frequency of dust storms in Iraq has greatly increased, with the country struggling to battle the effects of climate change, drought, and rapid desertification. Dust storm waves hit Iraq almost every week since the beginning of the spring season.

One person died and more than 5,000 were treated in hospitals for respiratory ailments recently due to dust storms.

Iraq is particularly vulnerable to climate change, having already witnessed record low rainfall and high temperatures in recent years. It is ranked as one of the five most vulnerable nations to climate change and desertification.

Experts have said these factors threaten social and economic disaster in the war-scarred country.

In November, the World Bank warned that Iraq could suffer a 20-percent drop in water resources by 2050 due to climate change.

In early April, environment ministry official Issa al-Fayad had warned that Iraq could face "272 days of dust" a year in the coming decades.

The ministry said the weather phenomenon could be confronted by "increasing the green cover and creating forests that act as windbreaks".



PUKmedia