Al -Jazeera Net Correspondents
Baghdad- Iraq records hundreds of dirt storms annually, which puts the country in front of environmental and economic challenges, amid local and international warnings of exacerbating the situation in light of the continued effects of climate change and the decline in government interest in sustainable solutions.
According to the estimates of the “Green Iraq” Observatory – a non -governmental organization concerned with environmental affairs – Iraq incur losses estimated at about one million dollars per day as a result of dust storms, in multiple sectors, most notably health, agriculture, transportation and services.
andThe observatory reports indicate that Iraq has witnessed in recent years a noticeable increase in the number of storms days, whether at the level of one governorate or the total governorates of the country. In its last report issued a few days ago, the observatory confirmed that these storms left “enormous” losses, which is confirmed by the United Nations data that classified Iraq among 5 countries that are most affected by climate change globally.
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The affected sectors
For his part, a member of the “Green Iraq” Center, Omar Abdel -Latif, said, in an exclusive interview with Al -Jazeera Net, that “the health sector is the most affected, as the Ministry of Health spends huge sums on treating people with respiratory diseases resulting from inhalation of dust and dust, especially in times of sharp storms.”
And that the center conducted an estimated study of the losses, in which the storms were divided into sandy, dirt and dusty, then the direct damage to each sector, relying on this on the minimum daily losses.
He continued that the losses include the loss of the health sector and what it spends on patients, in addition to the loss of air navigation and the having to suspend flights at times, and traffic accidents, as well as these storms causing damage to agricultural areas and draining water in the removal of the effects of these storms.
In this context, Saif Al -Badr, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health, confirmed, in a statement to Al -Jazeera Net, that hospitals received nearly a thousand conditions during the last dust storm, most of which are due to respiratory problems, without recording any deaths.
Al -Badr pointed out that the oldest age group is the most affected, confirming the Ministry’s readiness in terms of medical equipment and expertise, and pointed out that the health service is high cost, and varies according to the severity of the condition and whether it calls for the patient’s introduction to the intensive care units.
As for the economist, Anmar Al -Ubaidi, he explained to Al -Jazeera Net that the cost of treating the patient in the government hospital – in simple cases – is not less than 50 dollars per day, and it rises to 300 dollars if he enters it to the highly respiratory care unit, explaining that these numbers are based on a comparison between what the Ministry of Health spends and the cost of treatment in private hospitals.
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Economic stagnation and stagnation
In 2023 alone, Iraq recorded 158 days of dust storms, according to the head of the Health and Environment Committee in the Iraqi parliament, Dr. Majid Shankali, who assured Al -Jazeera Net that this phenomenon caused a significant increase in the number of hospitals, and negatively affected agriculture and crops by accelerating the pace of desertification.
Shankali added that government treatments are still a “theory” and do not rise to the level of challenges, noting that important projects such as the “Million Trees” project, from which only a small part has been implemented, despite the passage of more than a year since its approval. On the other hand, he pointed out that Saudi Arabia launched a project to grow a billion trees in a few years.
Shankali also revealed that there are legal loopholes that hinder the application of environmental policies, stressing that the Health and Environment Committee presented a draft new law to protect and improve the environment, but the disruption of parliament sessions prevented its discussion and approval during the current period.
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Costumes in tourism and water
Economic researcher Dr. Mustafa Hantoush believes that the stopping of agricultural reclamation projects exacerbates the pace of dust storms, and directly affects commercial activity, especially in the days that witness severe storms.
He added to Al -Jazeera Net that cleaning the tourist facades, government buildings and airports after each storm costs the state huge sums and drains huge amounts of water.
Hantoush called for urgent negotiations with both Türkiye and Iran to ensure the flow of water quotas to Iraq, in conjunction with the adoption of rational policies to use water internally in agriculture and human consumption.
Omar Abdel -Latif explained that the “Green Iraq” Observatory submitted a set of proposals to the government and the Ministry of Environment, especially with regard to the establishment of green belts around the cities and the rehabilitation of vegetation in the border areas.
However, Abdel -Latif pointed out that “the pace of rising storms is much higher than the level of government response,” warning that the continuation of this neglect will lead to a steady increase in environmental, economic and health losses annually.
