Anbar works to create oases to tackle increasing dust storms

 
Anbar-INA
 
Anbar province revealed Monday, its actual steps to eradicate desertification, while referring to the initiation to create establish agricultural oases to tackle dust storms.
 
"There are considerable efforts exerted by the local government in Anbar to reduce the phenomenon of desertification, especially recently as dust increases, due to the nature of the geographical area and its proximity to the largest desert area in western Iraq," The media advisor to the Governor of Anbar, Basem Al-Anbari, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
 
Al-Anbari pointed out that "There is high coordination between Anbar and the neighboring provinces in order to work together to reduce the phenomenon of desertification," explaining that "the local government approached the Directorate of Agriculture in the province, to prepare lists for the establishment of some agricultural oases in the vicinity of cities as well as the areas that cause this phenomenon."
 
While the Head of the Horticulture and Desertification Control Department in Anbar Agriculture Directorate, Jamal Abdul Hammad, confirmed to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that “The governor instructed Anbar Agriculture Directorate to draw up plans, estimated costs and types of trees to create green belts around cities, as well as emphasizing the use of environmentally friendly energy sources such as solar energy that had previously been worked on in other projects and achieved great success, and adopting them to operate pumps and irrigation systems”. 
 
He expressed his hope, "that efforts by the central government and international community organizations will join forces to provide financial support for these projects, as they require financial costs, labor and permanent observation during agriculture and after cultivation, as well as providing an operating budget to sustain these vital and important projects."
 
In turn, Director of Anbar Environment, Qais Najeh Abd, explained that " Minister of Environment, Jassem Al-Falahi,  attached great importance to the issue of climate changes in general and dust storms in particular."
 
He affirmed that "Before the terrorist attacks of ISIS in 2014, there were 31 oases in Anbar province, and now eight of them have been revived by the General Authority for Forests and Desertification affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and under the supervision of Anbar Environment Directorate."
 
And he indicated, "The storms that hit the country from the west are not local storms, as they came from other countries, and these countries, most of their lands are desert, especially neighboring countries and South African countries.