Iraq
Desertification is a product of climate and human pressure on the Earth، It is the spread of conditions similar to the Sahara as a result of climate changes and human influence. It is a form of degradation of the Earth’s efficiency, mainly arid, dry, and humid land.
Over the past four decades, desertification has spread rapidly in the Arab world and Iraq specifically, forcing many farmers and their families to abandon their homes in search of better land to live on.
Causes of desertification
We have stated that desertification is a deterioration in the Earth’s efficiency, so we will mention the causes of this decline as follows:
-Low vegetation naturally due to drought or human activities
-Extreme climatic changes such as global warming and rainfall or lack thereof.
-Population increase that increases overgrazing and deforestation.
-Intensive cultivation, results in the frequent use of insecticides and depletion of nutrients for soil.
The reality of desertification in Iraq
Iraq faces many environmental challenges as a result of its geographical location, within arid and semi-arid areas. Despite Iraq’s security, political, and economic conditions, desertification is at the forefront of these challenges; Desertification in Iraq is a serious environmental phenomenon; It has a strong direct impact on food security and human health. Desertification constitutes 670 kilometers (38.7%) of Iraq’s total area.
Implications of desertification and drought for Iraq’s reality
-Declining areas of productive land (pastoral, agricultural, forestry).
-Degradation and destruction of natural resources.
-especially those related to the quality and productivity of the soil.
-available water resources, and natural vegetation. Low agricultural production in both vegetables and livestock.
-Disruption of living conditions of organisms causes loss of biodiversity.
– Increased likelihood of disease transmission from animals and humans.
-Youth migration and increasing population displacement processes.
Solutions to the problem of desertification
-Leaving farming methods that damage the environment, and adhering to soil-related methods that help restore the natural balance between soil and communities.
-Use renewable energy sources instead of firewood, which will help maintain vegetation.
-Work to raise the environmental awareness of individuals, school students, and universities by presenting the problems of desertification and ways to avoid it.
-Water resources are used to ensure their protection.
-Establishing environmental reserves.
-Work on establishing projects (governmental, private, and cooperative), that ensure the improvement of the irrigation and agricultural situation of the desertification-affected areas.
Al-Rakeezeh projects to combat desertification and drought in
Iraq
Al-Rakeezeh Foundation played an important role in raising funds for water supply, addressing desertification, solving agricultural problems, and increasing arable land in Iraq, by drilling irrigation wells and linking them to the fixed sprinkler irrigation system, providing some consultation on marketing, modern agriculture, and rationalizing the use of water for farmers there, where 350 dunums of agriculture were recounted.
One of the most prominent projects worked on by the Al-Rakeezeh Foundation is the provision of plastic houses in which the appropriate environment is provided for crops according to their type whether cold or heat need with water and others.
Read more: Agriculture in Iraq challenges and future of agriculture
Watch the videos on YOUTUBE:https://youtu.be/3wU1TW08Ppk?si=oBP9z_cd46S_mS84
