Updates: polution; hunting; animal slaughter; climate change

[Anthea]

Over 100 million trees being planted

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism announced on Tuesday that more than 100 million trees are set to be planted in Erbil province until 2030

The initiative was presented during a meeting between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Municipalities and Tourism as well as a representative Hasar Organization, a local environmental group, the ministry said in a statement.

Supported by the government, the enormous “strategic” green scheme is planned to be implemented with the Kurdish green organization, it said.

The aim of the project is to increase forest cover across the capital city as well as its surrounding areas, the statement added.

Sponsored by ShaMaran Petroleum, the Organization has planted 60,000 trees in the first in partnership with Rwanga Foundation, Hawkar Ali the head of the green group, told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.

The majority of the to-be-planted trees will be oaks, popular and widely planted trees across the Kurdistan Region, Ali said, adding the aim is to combat climate change.

The Kurdish organization previously announced a million-oak project, which was launched in 2020.

With regard to the irrigation of the planted trees, the Organization uses recycled water through a project they had established near a planting site in Erbil, according to Ali.

The climate change adverse effects have been evident both in Iraq and Kurdistan Region, including above 50-degrees Celsius temperatures, water scarcity, and frequent and powerful dust storms that had shut down public offices and hospitalized thousands.

Iraq is ranked by the United Nations as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change.

At least 40,000 people have been affected by the severe climatic changes in at least three southern Iraqi provinces, the chief of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told Kurdistan 24 in August.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/29 ... il-by-2030

[Anthea]

One African To Die from Hunger

Every 36 Seconds

On Friday, Oxfam warned that one person is likely to die every 36 seconds from hunger in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, three countries that are experiencing the worst drought recorded over the last forty years

According to this humanitarian organization, a daily average of 2,421 people might die during October in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, where over 6 million children will soon suffer from "acute malnutrition", a condition that weakens the immune system and seriously alters the children's physical and cerebral development.

"These people are suffering the effects of global climate change that they did not help to cause. Rich countries, the main causes of the climate crisis, have a moral responsibility to protect people from the harm they have caused," Oxfam pointed out

On Thursday, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) also warned that the global food crisis will cause hunger to reach unprecedented levels in 2022.

The global food crisis is a confluence of competing crises – caused by climate shocks, conflict, and economic pressures – that has pushed the number of hungry people around the world from 282 million to 345 million in just the first months of 2022.

“We are facing an unprecedented global food crisis and all signs suggest we have not yet seen the worst. For the last three years hunger numbers have repeatedly hit new peaks," WFP David Beasley pointed out.

"Let me be clear: things can and will get worse unless there is a large scale and coordinated effort to address the root causes of this crisis. We cannot have another year of record hunger.

Currently, food insecurity is affecting many developing countries. Ongoing humanitarian crises, however, are evident in countries experiencing chronic famine, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

The Nicaraguan economy provided 70% employment growth and has allowed the country to produce 90% of its own food. Despite economic sanctions, the government has a 70% approval rating for its policies - #Nicaragua pic.twitter.com/5dYin8Yba0
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) August 2, 2022

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/One ... -0008.html

[Anthea]

Taxing cow burps and farts

New Zealand’s controversial plan to tax cow burps and farts is angering farmers, who warned that the proposal could prompt many of them to sell up

As farmers resist tax plan, will New Zealand’s government reconsider? The bill, which was first introduced in part in May, is scheduled to go into effect in 2025.

The proposed levy, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, is “an important step forward in New Zealand’s transition to a low emissions future and delivers on our promise to price agriculture emissions from 2025,”

“No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers", Ardern told a press conference.

It is also worth noting that a bill consultation was launched this week and will run until November 18 to address details of the proposal such as levies, transition assistance, and sequestration.

New Zealand is a major livestock and meat producer, with meat being their second largest export, generating the country about $10 billion in revenue in 2021, as per the Meat Industry Association.

Furthermore, the Ministry for the Environment reported that agriculture accounts for half of New Zealand's total emissions, accounting for 94% of nitrous oxide emissions and approximately 91% of biogenic methane emissions.

While the proposal to tax cattle emissions promises to reinvest tax revenue "into new technology, research, and incentive payments to farmers," the Federated Farmers of New Zealand was outraged, calling it "gut-wrenching."

“We didn’t sign up for this. It’s gut-wrenching to think we now have this proposal from the government, which rips the heart out of the work we did. Out of the families who farm this land,” said Andrew Hoggard, the president of Federated Farmers.

“Our plan was to keep farmers farming. Now they’ll be selling up so fast you won’t even hear the dogs barking on the back of the ute as they drive off,” he added.

Andrew Morrison, the chairman of Beef+Lamb New Zealand, expressed concern, if not outright opposition, to the proposal.

“We need to further analyze these changes carefully, but one area of immediate concern is the proposed changes to sequestration, which is of real importance to sheep and beef farmers,” said Morrison.

“We know we have a role to play in addressing climate change and our farmers are among the first to feel the effects of it,” he added.

In short, farmers have criticized the plans, stressing that they will be forced to sell up.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... urps-farts

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:


Wildlife population drops 69%

The UK researchers hit back at Truss' policies for neglecting the climate emergency deteriorating wildlife and natural habitats

In just a little less than 50 years, wildlife populations across the planet have dropped by an average of 69% as deforestation and other human-made destructions continue to take a toll on Earth and its environment.

According to the WWF and Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) biennial Living Planet Report, the abundance of animals in their natural habitats was at 68% two years ago, when it was at 60% four years earlier.

Scientists believe that the human race is enduring the sixth mass extinction - man-made that is and considered the largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. In light of the COP15 biodiversity summit in Canada this December, the authors of the Living Planet Report are calling on global leaders to devise an agreement that would curb carbon emissions and limit global warming to below 1.5°C which is already an alarming rate. The Living Planet Index analyzes 32,000 populations of 5,230 animal species globally to record changes in the abundance of wildlife.

Latin America and the Caribbean regions have been hit the hardest, after recording a 94% drop in 48 years. Tanya Steele, chief executive at WWF-UK, said, “This report tells us that the worst declines are in the Latin America region, home to the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon. Deforestation rates there are accelerating, stripping this unique ecosystem not just of trees but of the wildlife that depends on them and of the Amazon’s ability to act as one of our greatest allies in the fight against climate change.”

They were followed by Africa at 66%, then by Asia and the Pacific at 55%, and North America at 20%. Europe and Central Asia came in last at an 18% fall. Steele expressed, “Despite the science, the catastrophic projections, the impassioned speeches and promises, the burning forests, submerged countries, record temperatures and displaced millions, world leaders continue to sit back and watch our world burn in front of our eyes,” adding, “The climate and nature crises, their fates entwined, are not some faraway threat our grandchildren will solve with still-to-be-discovered technology.”

She took a jab at UK's PM Liz Truss by stating that she needs to "show the UK is serious about helping people, nature and the economy to thrive, by ensuring every promise for our world is kept. Falling short will be neither forgotten nor forgiven.”

Truss has been prioritizing the economy before nature protection and the environment, and environmental groups are concerned rare and endangered animals and plants could lose their protection, placing the environment at an even further loss. On account of that, the report notes that the UK carries only 50% of its biodiversity wealth compared with historical levels which categorize it as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

Truss' government was blamed by environmental activists for retracting a commitment to stopping the deterioration of nature by 2030, implemented after Brexit, commenting that the 570 environmental laws to be rescinded from EU law after Brexit would leave the environment in a state of unprotected "free-for-all".

In regards to land use and agricultural techniques being one of the factors leading to biodiversity loss, Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF-UK, said, “At a global level, primarily the declines we are seeing are driven by the loss and fragmentation of habitat driven by the global agricultural system and its expansion into intact habitat converting it to produce food.”

Furthermore, another factor contributing to biodiversity loss is the increasing infrastructure and farmland, whereby according to the report, only 37% of rivers longer than 1,000 km remain free-flowing and just 10% of the world’s protected areas on land are connected.

The authors placed the Himalayas, south-east Asia, the east coast of Australia, the Albertine Rift, and Eastern Arc mountains in eastern Africa, and the Amazon basin among priority areas bound to be hit with potential future declines.

The IUCN, which stands for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is enhancing a measure to allow researchers to know the conservation status of an animal and trace the recovery for some of the one million species already threatened with extinction on Earth.

Robin Freeman, ZSL's head of the indicators and assessments unit, expressed urgency regarding the action needed to tackle the alarming situation facing humanity, saying, “In order to see any bending of the curve of biodiversity loss … it’s not just about conservation it’s about changing production and consumption – and the only way that we are going to be able to legislate or call for that is to have these clear measurable targets that ask for recovery of abundance, reduction of extinction risk and the ceasing of extinctions at COP15 in December.”

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... rs:-report

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:


Drought looming in England in 2023;

What England most pressingly needs is consistent and above-average rainfall throughout the fall and winter seasons to reduce the likelihood of drought next year - and this is not likely

Concerns are growing over predictions that farmers will not be able to grow their crops next year if the drought persists until the next summer.

The National Drought Group has forecasted that the fruit and vegetable supply chain could collapse due to reservoirs not having received enough rainwater to water the crops.

"If reservoirs cannot be filled during winter 2022/23, which it is felt could be a possibility, this would have serious implications for businesses, the supply chains, and those employed within them," according to the Group.

"Confidence is needed by the sector to have access to water to enable cropping plans to be enacted. Where confidence is not available, cropping rotations are being reviewed and reductions in areas of irrigated crops/water-hungry crops are being undertaken."

The participants who were present at the meeting, which include Environment Agency, water companies, farmers, and other groups, warned it was unlikely there would be enough rainfall to refill reservoirs and enable normal river flows by 2023.

Yesterday, the government announced that the drought in England is expected to last for many months and introduced restrictions on water use.

After a difficult and scorching summer, rainfall levels during the month of September were not sufficient to dampen the soil and refill reservoirs.

What England most pressingly needs is consistent and above-average rainfall throughout the fall and winter seasons to reduce the likelihood of drought next year.

Since that is unlikely, farmers and delegates in the agricultural industry are anticipating disastrous yields ahead of the upcoming year.

The National Trust, a charity and membership organization for heritage conservation in England, which also happened to be at the meeting, warned that some sites were also prone to drought.

It said it will be unable to meet its net zero carbon emissions plans as the water available will not be sufficient to water the trees it wants to plant. It also said there would be fewer flowers on display next year.

Tom Bradshaw, the National Farmers’ Union’s Deputy President, said, "As the irrigation season is coming to a close and attention is turned to winter abstraction for storage reservoir fill, we have been working with the Environment Agency to further support the industry through these challenging times, with flexible abstraction measures being provided."

"However, more needs to be done to provide short-term certainty that water will be available for food production for the next growing season," he added.

Out of all reservoirs in the country, only one is assessed to be at normal water level for this year, while others are assessed as notably or exceptionally low, especially those of Devon and Cornwall.

The region had experienced some of the driest weather for 130 years, according to South West Water drought director Jo Ecroyd.

According to the South West Lakes Trust, whose water storage is estimated at 31.5% capacity, water levels at Colliford Lake in Cornwall are at about 20%, whereas water storage in Roadford Lake is currently at 38% capacity, though it can store up to 34,500 megaliters.

Residents in London and Oxfordshire could be placed under severe restrictions in the coming months as data revealed that Thames Water is considering non-essential use bans.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... -crop-in-j

[Anthea]

Greece runs on renewable energy

This is a significant milestone for Greek energy because "for the first time in the history of the Greek electricity system, demand was covered entirely by renewable energy sources."

On October 7, the country ran entirely on renewable energy for about five hours, reaching a record high of 3,106MWh at eight o'clock (GMT).

According to IPTO, this is a significant milestone for Greek energy because "for the first time in the history of the Greek electricity system, demand was covered entirely by renewable energy sources."

The operator stressed: "With the interconnections implemented by IPTO on land and sea, new electrical capacity is created for even greater RES [renewable energy sources] penetration that will make our energy mix even greener in the coming years.”

In the eight months leading up to August of this year, renewables accounted for 46% of the nation's power mix. This figure was up from 42% in the same period in 2021, according to The Green Tank, a Greece-based environmental think tank.

Green Tank described the occurrence as a "record of optimism for the country's transition to clean energy, weaning ourselves off fossil fuels, and ensuring our energy sufficiency."

In recent years, Greece has developed a diverse range of renewable energy sources. The goal is to use nonrenewables as little as possible.

Tilos, for example, is attempting to become completely self-sufficient in energy through renewables.

Greece currently outperforms the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and many other European countries in terms of renewable energy production.

However, Greece's transition to clean energy has not been without challenges.

Greece, like other European countries, reduced its reliance on Russian gas by increasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to meet its needs. It has also increased coal mining, delaying its decarbonization plan.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... first-time

[Anthea]

Radioactive waste at Missouri school

Missouri's Jana Elementary School, in a chemical report, is shown to have excessive levels of toxic contaminants

Major radioactive contamination plagues a suburban elementary school in St. Louis, where nuclear weapons were produced during World War II, according to a report published by Boston Chemical Data Corporation.

The report, with evidence and backing, cemented fears regarding possible contamination at Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District in Florissant; an accusation that was brought up by a previous Army Corps of Engineers study.

Samples were taken from the school back in August, revealed the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

There was no mention of who requested or funded the report.

The President of the Jana parent-teacher association, Ashley Bernaugh, lamented that she was "heartbroken," noting that she has a son enrolled at the school. “It sounds so cliché, but it takes your breath from you.”

The school is located on the floodplain of Coldwater Creek. The water body during WWII was contaminated by nuclear waste from weapons production.

After production, the waste was dumped near the St. Louis Lambert International Airport, next to the creek flowing to the Missouri River.

The Army's Corps of Engineers have been cleaning the river for more than two decades.

According to the Corps' report, there was contamination in the area but at lower levels, but no samples within the vicinities of the school were taken, however. The most recent report took samples from the school's kitchen, classrooms, fields, libraries, and playgrounds.

Lead-210, polonium, radium, and other toxic contaminants were found in excess. Dust samples that were taken from the school were also found to be contaminated.

“A significant remedial program will be required to bring conditions at the school in line with expectations,” the report said.

The findings are expected to be a major topic of discussion in the school board meeting on Tuesday.

In a statement, the district announced that it will be consulting its attorneys and experts to look into the next steps: “Safety is absolutely our top priority for our staff and students.”
Radioactive Substances and Pesticides Found in US Tap Water

Over the last two years, US water utilities and authorities have detected 56 new pollutants in drinking water, including harmful compounds related to diseases like cancer, infertility, liver illness, and numerous more.

According to The Guardian, the finding is part of an investigation into the pollution records of the country's water services conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a clean water organization that has just updated its database since 2019.

They found that the increase is being fueled by newly discovered PFAS, a dangerous family of "forever chemicals," used across dozens of sectors, and suspected to be poisoning the water of over 100 million people.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... -wwii-nuke

[Anthea]

Click image to Enlarge:

UK rainforest could be revived

Currently only 1% of the rainforest covers the UK, with efforts by the public and NGOs aiming to reach 20% coverage as part of COP15 talks

Two maps released by Lost Rainforests of Britain, and shared with The Guardian, revealed that a temperate rainforest that has been ravaged for thousands of years could potentially be restored and revived across a fifth of Great Britain.

The west coasts of Britain and Ireland were once covered by the Atlantic temperate rainforest in the mild conditions of the archipelago, which nurtures rainforest indicator species such as lichens, mosses, and liverworts. However, today it covers less than 1% of land only found in isolated pockets, such as the waterfalls in the Brecon Beacons and Ausewell Wood on Dartmoor.

The maps demonstrate the current and future conditions, showing the remaining pieces of rainforest in England, Wales and Scotland after being compiled with the help of the public, scientists, and geolocation specialists.

93% of Britain's public advocate for protecting the rainforest

One of the two maps illustrates that more than half of Wales and almost all of western Scotland, as well as large parts of Cornwall, the Lake District and other pockets north of Manchester, have the suitable potential to harbor climates for the temperate rainforest.

Environmental campaigner Guy Shrubsole, who leads the Lost Rainforests of Britain campaign, spoke of the possibility to double the 18,870 hectares (46,628 acres) that currently exist in England if permitted to naturally regenerate and be spread by ecosystem engineers such as the jay bird - proven to be substantial support to forest revival and regrowth.

“I don’t necessarily think we could cover all of the 20%. But I do think we could allow those existing fragments that we have identified to expand in size.”

After Shurbsole's organization commissioned a YouGov poll, it was discovered that 93% of the British public advocate for protecting the country’s rainforest, 85% support its expansion and 80% believe that its restoration should be supported by public funding.

According to ecologists, pollution, invasive species, and grazing by livestock have wreaked havoc on the temperate rainforest but hope for natural regeneration could be validated if substantive protection and careful tree-planting are applied.

Just last month, the British parliament was looking into the possibility of revoking 570 environmental laws from the national legislation system, which would leave wildlife unprotected and deregulated, going against post-Brexit promises to put nature's demise to a halt by 2030.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... turally-re

[Anthea]

Fossil fuel killing millions

Food insecurity, air intoxication, diseases, drought, and deteriorated worker productivity are just some of the effects that the climate crisis has so far triggered on a global scale

A new study published by the medical journal The Lancet reports that climate change is causing 98 million people to face severe food insecurity and 103 countries to face heat-related death surges.

The report, which was published ahead of the upcoming UN COP27 climate summit in Egypt next month, adds that an estimated 11,800 Americans and 1.2 million people globally die every year due to intoxication from air pollution.

Fossil fuel addiction is to blame, as the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas is causing the quality of the air to deteriorate.

In the 103 countries examined in this study, the researchers found that land impacted by extreme drought has increased by 29% in the past 50 years.

Between 2017-2021, heat-related deaths jumped 68% compared to 2000-2004, with risks of very-high or extremely-high fire danger increasing in 61% of countries from 2001-2004 to 2018-2021.

Moreover, heat caused 470 billion potential labor hours to be wasted in 2021. This had a severe impact on widening the gap between low- and middle-income countries.

Global warming is also causing infectious diseases to spread at unprecedented rates, with malaria increasing to 2.1% in highland areas of the US and 14.9% in Africa between 2012 and 2021, compared to the 1950s.

All these factors are negatively impacting family incomes due to their effect on workers' productivity, as well as exacerbating food insecurity as crop yields are dying out due to extreme heat.

Carbon intensity from global energy systems did however drop by less than 1% from the 1992 levels, the report says.

While 69 out of the 86 states included in the study allocated expenditures on fossil fuels at a collective cost of $400 billion in 2019, governments "have so far failed to provide the smaller sum of $100 billion per year to help support climate action in lower-income countries."

"The world is edging closer to multiple tipping points that, once crossed, will drive temperatures well above 2°C ... current global actions are insufficient," the researchers said in the report's editorial.

Commenting on the report, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres said, "The climate crisis is killing us," while calling for "common-sense investments in renewable energy."

Observers who agreed that fossil fuel addiction is an undisputable fact include University of Maryland professor Sacoby Wilson and University of Calgary medicine professor Courtney Howard.

Howard pointed out that heat-related deaths have had no impact on thwarting fossil fuel use, defining addiction in medical terms as being the "continuing in habitual behavior despite known harms."

As for environmental health professor Wilson, the report highlights that people "are dying now" from climate change and that "droughts, desertification, not having food, flooding, tsunamis" are just some of the many catastrophes generated by this crisis, while referencing floods that devastated Pakistan and Nigeria this year.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/env ... ns:-report

[Anthea]

Dangerous Global Warming Levels

Community of nations must implement bold measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avert runaway climate emergencies including floods, droughts, heatwaves and cyclones, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a new report launched Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya's capital

The UNEP's 2022 Emissions Gap Report notes that progress towards meeting net-zero targets across the globe had stagnated, worsening the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to adverse impacts of a heating planet.

"This report tells us in cold scientific terms what nature has been telling us, all year, through deadly floods, storms and raging fires: we have to stop filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gases and stop doing it fast," the UNEP Director Inger Andersen said, adding that taming the unfolding climate crisis hinged on a radical transition to low-carbon lifestyles and economic development.

Launched ahead of the 27th Conference of Parties (COP 27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Summit slated for Egypt from Nov. 6 to 18, the UNEP report decried lackluster commitment by nations to undertake radical carbon-cutting measures and forestall disasters linked to planetary warming.

The Emissions Gap Report 2022 dubbed "The closing window-climate crisis calls for rapid transformation of societies" indicates that limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius as set out in the Paris climate accord could be a mirage, as nations fall short of their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

As the latest @UNEP Emissions Gap report makes clear, we are headed for economy-destroying levels of global heating.

We need #ClimateAction on all fronts – and we need it now.

We must close the emissions gap before catastrophe closes in on us all.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 27, 2022

Carbon-cutting pledges by individual nations have been inadequate and slow to implement, pointing to a possible temperature rise of above 2.6 degrees centigrade by 2100.

The report acknowledges that policy mismatch, impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, the unfolding food and fuel crisis alongside geopolitical tensions have undermined nations' capacity to implement ambitious carbon-cutting measures.

To accelerate progress towards carbon neutrality, the report calls for a rapid overhaul of energy, transport, industrial and financial sectors to ensure they are less carbon-intensive.

Anne Olhoff, the Chief Scientific Editor of the UNEP Emissions Gap Report said that attaining net-zero targets that deliver myriad benefits like clean air, green jobs and universal access to energy required harnessing cleaner technologies and radical policy and mindset shifts.

"The good news is that we have all the technological solutions to get us on track to achieving the Paris Agreement goals in the shorter term and that we hopefully have enough time to develop new solutions for sectors that are difficult to decarbonize," Olhoff said.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Hum ... -0009.html

[Anthea]

Clean-up campaign near Shaqlawa
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UK consulate on Saturday joined a clean-up campaign in the Sabirawa area of ​​Shaqlawa. PM Masrour Barzani in a tweet thanked the diplomats, activists for the clean-up campaign

“Diplomats, activists and the youth drawn together by a common purpose. Thank you,” PM Masrour Barzani tweeted.

“We continue to clean up the environment in Sabirawa area of ​​Shaqlawa,” Fatma Qadir, an environmentalist, who joined the campaign, wrote on her Instagram page.

The clean-up campaign near Shaqlawa started two months ago to clean up the river at Sahqlawa Sabirawa to help out the turtles living in this river.

“This week the British Consul General was with us and helped us clean up. Thank you so much for being with us yesterday. Your support is well appreciated. We hope you can make our voice more heard. Solutions are clear but we need implementation and local stakeholders taking the responsibility,” Qadir added.

She also said there is a need for trash bins and fences to make the river not accessible as a dumpster space.

Climate action is achievable if government, businesses and society all work together. The worse effects of climate change are not inevitable. There are changes we can make to protect our environment for future generations. #COP27 pic.twitter.com/pBcX8ogBID
— UK in Erbil (@ukinerbil) November 6, 2022

“Climate action is achievable if government, businesses and society all work together. The worse effects of climate change are not inevitable. There are changes we can make to protect our environment for future generations,” the UK Consulate said in a tweet.

“My team and I were proud to be able to support the brilliant ‘Clean up KRI’ volunteers this weekend, removing litter from a stream in the beautiful Shaqlawa area,” UK Consul General to the Kurdistan Region David Hunt, told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday.

“It’s so important that we all work together to protect our environment. This week world leaders will be making important decisions at COP 27 to tackle climate change. We can all play a role though to protect our planet for future generations.”

According to the UN, more than 200 Iraqis representing government, youth and civil society will participate in COP27, the 27th annual United Nations Conference on Climate Change, organized by the United Nations in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on 6-18 November.

At the 2021 MERI forum late last October, Prime Minister Barzani said that citizens and individuals are responsible for keeping the Kurdistan Region’s environment clean.

“We cannot only rely on some companies to come and collect our waste,” he said. “We should know how to keep our air, land, and water clean and I’m asking all of the citizens of Kurdistan to respect the environment.”

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/29 ... r-Shaqlawa

[Anthea]

International Drought Resilience

On Monday, leaders from nearly 50 countries launched the International Drought Resilience Alliance at the 27th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27) to help countries to be better prepared for future droughts

Initiated by Senegal and Spain, the alliance is established as a specific solution for the UN to the impacts of climate change, according to a statement issued by the Alliance.

"The mission of the alliance is to give political impetus to make the land's resilience to drought and climate change," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Senegal's President Macky Sall jointly declared on Monday.

"Drought is a natural hazard but does not have to lead to human disaster. The solutions are available, and we can create a drought-resilient world by increasing our ambition, harnessing the political will, and joining forces to act together," said Ibrahim Thiaw, secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The Alliance will be bolstered by new political commitments, including a US$5-million seed fund announced by Spain, to support the work of the Alliance and catalyze a process to mobilize more resources for this agenda.

The Alliance calls on leaders to make drought resilience a priority in national development and cooperation, including deepening the engagement of stakeholders, such as the private sector.

Among the key objectives of the Alliance is promoting the consolidation of regional initiatives, to fast-track sharing of innovation, technology transfer, and mobilization of resources, the statement added.

The Alliance will also collaborate with other platforms, including the initiative launched by the UN secretary-general and the World Meteorological Organization to achieve universal coverage of early warning systems and regional initiatives to reap the maximum benefits of working together on drought resilience.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Int ... -0009.html

[Anthea]

Water shortages in Duhok

Due to the lack of drinking water, only one out of 15 families living in the village of Bekhuire in Amedi remains, according to locals

Sanaan Hassan and his wife, who are residents of Bekhuire village in the Deraluk district, have to travel by pickup truck to the district every day to get drinking water.

“We want water,” Hassan told Rudaw’s Hunar Rashid on Monday.

“This village has been evacuated because of a lack of water and people have all left,” he added and continued to say that his son moved away because of the water shortages.

Merge village, which shares the same border as Bekhuire village, faces the same issues and is now without proper cleaning water as a result of the stream water drying up. This used to be the source of drinking water for the village.

Ali Ahmad, a resident, told Rudaw that “we don't have drinking water and people are leaving the village. We used to have 20 households, but now we have six or seven households left.”

The survival of the villages relies on agriculture and livestock, but the water shortages have made this difficult.

Abdulrahman Ahmad, another resident said that “the people of this village live on agriculture and livestock, but now there is no water. I sold about half of my animals due to lack of water.”

Amedi District Water Division has prepared 130 million dinars for drilling a well and building a water network for the two villages, but they are waiting for the Duhok provincial administration to make the investment.

"After the drought, their water supply decreased. Haji depicted, “We visited both villages to dig a well and the project is about to be ready soon,” Bashar Haji, director of the Amedi District Water Division said.

According to the statistics of the Amedi District Water Division, out of 356 villages in the region, 157 have been provided with water, while 199 villages have not been provided with wells due to the fighting between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/09112022

Neither Turkey nor the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) should be there, both belong inside Turkish borders

[Anthea]

Iraq’s meadows a barren desert

DHI QAR, Iraq - Severe drought has taken its toll on the wetlands of Iraq's southern province of Dhi Qar, turning them into a barren desert and threatening them with extinction

Walking towards the little boat that he used to use for fishing in the Hammar Marshes south of Dhi Qar, Abu Hussein, a man in his fifties, is deeply worried about the drying up of the waters of the marshes, and the livelihood of his family of more than ten members.

The family's sole breadwinner, Abu Hussein told Rudaw that he ponders leaving the region in order to secure his livelihood and his children elsewhere, calling on the government to take measures to reduce drought and provide water.

Hundreds of families used to live in the Hammar marshes in Dhi Qar, but they migrated after these marshes turned into a barren desert due to drought and climate changes.

A dry, cracked, and lifeless land, this is what the Iraqi marshes look like after being known as green spaces and included on the World Heritage List, but are now deserted after more than 2,000 families left them and more than 1,500 fishermen lost their jobs, according to Ahmed Jaafar Issa, a local agricultural official in Dhi Qar.

Not just the marshes, but also 80 percent of Dhi Qar's farmlands have been damaged due to drought, according to Issa.

“The marshes have lost much of their water share due to the mismanagement within the Ministry of Water Resources by preferring one area over another,” he told Rudaw’s Anmar Ghazi on Saturday.

The swamplands, also known as the Mesopotamian Marshes, are one of the world's largest inland deltas situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Iraq's troubled marshlands were subject to a massive drainage campaign by former dictator Saddam Hussein in 1991, who ordered their drainage as punishment for local communities who were protecting insurgents he sought to hunt down.

Water levels in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers - shared by Iraq, Syria, and Turkey - have dropped considerably in recent years. In the latest stark warning of the threats a heating climate poses to the country, a report by Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources towards the end of last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq’s two main rivers will be entirely dry by 2040.

Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has long warned that the water available in Iraq is set to decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of Iraq’s agriculture and industry.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/131120222

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:

Iraqi a dam threatens farmland

AL-MESSAHAG, Iraq: Jamil al-Juburi, 53, has never left his village in northern Iraq, where his family has worked the land for generations -- but a dam will soon swallow his home, forcing them out

Tens of thousands of Iraqis are threatened by the Makhoul dam, which the government hopes will be operational on the mighty Tigris in five years.

"I was born here and I grew up here," said Juburi, whose village of Al-Messahag is set in pasture land on the banks of the river. "It's difficult to leave for somewhere else. It is a whole past that we leave behind us."

Once the dam is erected, Juburi's whole region will be under three billion cubic metres (105 billion cubic feet) of water.

In a country highly vulnerable to climate change -- and buffeted by three consecutive years of drought -- authorities have defended the project, which will boost water stores and help prevent shortages.

However, activists decry the impact on more than 30 villages -- home to about 118,000 people -- and the threats to biodiversity and archaeological sites.

Employed at a state-run oil refinery, Juburi leaves his sons to work the family land, where they plant wheat and citrus trees.

He would agree to move, he said, to put "the national interest above personal interest" -- on condition that the dam "will serve Iraq" as a whole.

Juburi also demanded "adequate damages" in order to safeguard his and his family's future.

- 'Severe threat' -

Iraq already has eight dams, but it complains that construction of the facilities upstream, mainly in neighbouring Turkey, has impacted its river volumes.

Plans for the Makhoul facility can be traced back to 2001, in the twilight of dictator Saddam Hussein's rule.

His downfall in a US-led invasion and chaotic subsequent occupation saw the project shelved for years.

Work finally got underway in 2021, with drilling, soil analysis and a bridge spanning the river.

Riad al-Samarai, deputy governor of Salaheddin province, lists a 250 MW hydroelectric power plant and an "irrigation canal that will serve agricultural areas and contribute to the nation's food security" as among the project's benefits. 

"The public interest requires the construction of this dam to guarantee water reserves for Iraq," he said.

Five villages are located on the site of the future reservoir, he added, and "a commission has been formed by the provinces and relevant ministries to ensure adequate damages for residents" and to relocate them.

But civil society is up in arms, not only about the human impact.

There are also repercussions for flora and fauna, warn environmental groups Save the Tigris and Humat Dijlah, who say the ancient city of Ashur -- a UNESCO world heritage site -- is also at risk.

In August, the International Organization for Migration noted that "there has been no official attempt to speak or engage" with local communities.

"Respondents who are farmworkers and landowners saw Makhoul Dam as a severe threat to their livelihoods," IOM said in a report, sharing the findings of a study by Iraqi organisation Liwan for Culture and Development.

- Lack of trust -

"Nobody has come to see us. Nobody has asked us anything," said Jamil's father, Ibrahim al-Juburi, who is in his 80s.

"My ancestors, my father, then I, all stayed in this region," the farmer said, his body hunched.

Liwan researcher Mehiyar Kathem said the real problem was the "reduction of water that is coming in" from upstream beyond Iraq's borders.

"Iraq doesn't need a new dam," he added. Instead, "the Tigris needs to keep flowing" because of the increase in salinity.

Kathem also pointed to the impact on vulnerable women-led households.

"There is a higher number of women in the area who rely on the agriculture and on the land. We don't know what is going to happen to female-headed households."

The study found that 39 villages -- each home to between 200 and 8,000 residents -- risk being submerged.

According to Liwan, 67 square kilometres (26 square miles) of "fertile farmland, estates and orchards" will also disappear if the Makhoul dam reaches full capacity, and more than 61,000 livestock will have to be "sold or relocated".

"The dam can disrupt the everyday life of some 118,412 individuals," said Liwan, noting an "absence of trust with decision-makers" among the local communities.

Residents "commonly stated that any expression of discontent with Makhoul dam would fall on deaf ears, and their voices would be ignored", it added.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/27112022