TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Iraq 'green belt' neglected in faltering climate fight
Change Size
A local farmer speaks in a palm and olive grove in the 'green belt' area of Iraq's central city of Karbala, on March 21, 2022. (AFP/Mohammed Sawaf)
E
nvisioned as a lush fortress against worsening desertification and sand storms, the "green belt" of Iraq's Karbala stands as a wilted failure.
Sixteen years after its inception, only a fraction of the 76-kilometre (47-mile) crescent-shaped strip of greenery has materialised, though the years proved a deep need for protection against mounting environmental challenges.
Eucalyptus, olive groves and date palms first took root in 2006 as part of a plan for tens of thousands of the trees to form a green protective shield around the city in central Iraq.
"We were very happy because the green belt would be an effective bulwark against dust," said Hatif Sabhan al-Khazali, a native of Karbala -- one of Iraq's Shiite holy cities that attracts millions of pilgrims every year.
Iraq's host of environmental problems, including drought and desertification, threaten access to water and livelihoods across the country.
But nowadays, the southern axis of Karbala's green belt is only about 26 kilometres long while the northern axis of the 100-metre (328 feet) wide strip is even shorter, at 22 kilometres.
Irrigation is sparse. No one pulls out the weeds anymore. Branches of the stunted olive trees sway between date palms -- symbolic of Iraq -- that struggle to grow.
