Iraqi national security agency discusses ‘environmental catastrophe’ facing country

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qasim Al-Araji chaired a meeting on the environmental challenges the country is facing with various government agencies in Baghdad on Tuesday, according to a statement.

The Iraqi minister of environment and representatives from the finance and agriculture ministries attended the rare meeting along with security officials, who described the environmental challenges as a “catastrophe”.

Al-Araji said environmental threats to Iraq are a national security issue and emphasized the importance of further cooperation between various government agencies, according to the statement.

The attendees discussed holding awareness-raising campaigns and winning the public’s support for the government’s efforts to reduce the wastage of vital resources, it added.

According to environmental authorities, droughts and increased desertification have mainly given rise to the frequent dust storms Iraq has recently experienced. Iraq says the sources of these dust storms are in Jordan, Syria’s Deir al-Zor province, and Saudi Arabia.

According to the United Nations, Iraq is ranked the fifth most vulnerable country to the adverse effects of climate change. The country has already begun to experience a number of climate change-related effects, such as low precipitation and extreme weather.