Government public policies in combating desertification in Iraq after 2015

Abstract

Desertification is one of the most prominent environmental challenges facing Iraq in light of climate change, represented by rising temperatures, declining rainfall, and declining water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This negatively impacts agricultural lands through increased salinity, the formation of sand dunes, and dust storms, leading to a decline in agricultural production and food security for Iraqi citizens. The situation is exacerbated by human intervention in nature to meet multiple needs that exceed those found in nature, disrupting the ecological balance. This is manifested in the cutting down of trees, burning of forests, and the conversion of agricultural lands into residential areas, which contributes significantly to the reduction of green space. To confront the threat of desertification, which has become a threat to the lives of various living organisms in two-thirds of Iraq's area, this matter prompted the Iraqi government to adopt several policies and strategies, including joining the "Paris Climate Agreement" in 2015. After this date, the efforts of the Ministries of Water Resources and Agriculture came to develop a policy to combat desertification for the years (2019-2021). The Iraqi government then developed the "National Strategy for Environmental Protection and Improvement" for the years (2024-2030), which included comprehensive policies to combat desertification. In the context of confronting the frequent occurrence of dust storms, the Iraqi government launched the "Afforestation Initiative" in 2023 to protect against the threat of desertification. Despite the Iraqi government's interest in climate policies to combat desertification for the present and future, it faces several challenges, including a shortage of advanced equipment and personnel necessary to implement desertification control projects, in addition to the lack of data and real rates to measure the phenomenon of desertification, weak financial support for scientific research projects to combat desertification, and the lack of awareness among Iraqi citizens of the importance of preserving the environment and climate from desertification, as this matter is a fundamental value. For the healthy life sought by countries, societies and international organizations in light of the worsening water crisis and desertification, these challenges make desertification the most important environmental threat facing the implementation of Iraq's vision within the framework of environmental policies to preserve a healthy climate in preparation for achieving sustainable development by 2030.