16 arrested arrested for felling trees in Duhok

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Officers of the environmental protection department recently arrested 16 people for allegedly illegally cutting down trees in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province.

The felling of a large number of trees has taken place in the province, estimated to be around 3,000 trees, according to figures provided to Kurdistan 24. 

A pick-up truck loaded with freshly felled forest trees and chainsaws was confiscated in the Atrush district on Wednesday during a raid by environmental forces, accompanied by a Kurdistan 24 team.

“Anyone who harms the environment will be arrested and brought before the justice system,” Ramadan Siyari, an officer of the Environmental Protection Department, told Kurdistan 24.

The cutting down of trees in the Kurdistan Region often increases in the winter months as people use wood as a substitute for other sources of energy, primarily for home heating.

Some of the illegal fellings is motivated by financial gains from selling the woods as timbers to factories.  

Those convicted for illegally cutting down trees face up to six months of imprisonment or 5 million IQD (nearly $3,400) in fines.

An environmental activist in Duhok has called for stricter legal punishment for those who commit the crime.

Between 2008 and 2012, the Kurdistan Region passed several laws and regulations aimed at protecting its natural resources such as trees, animals, water, and tourism sites. The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources 2012 Act of Forests in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq states that "It is forbidden to dispose [of] forests, whether registered under name of the Ministry or not registered, except in accordance with the law."

Additional reporting by the Kurdistan 24 Duhok Correspondent Havrest Rajab