PM Masrour Barzani thanks activists and diplomats for clean-up campaign near Shaqlawa

“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."
The UK consulate on Saturday joined a clean up campaign in the Sabirawa area of ​​Shaqlawa (Photo: Fatma Kurd/Twitter).
The UK consulate on Saturday joined a clean up campaign in the Sabirawa area of ​​Shaqlawa (Photo: Fatma Kurd/Twitter).

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,” 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.”