ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The forest rangers in the Kurdistan Region arrested 150 people over the last two months for cutting down trees, an official said on Thursday.
“In recent months, people have been cutting down trees on a large scale due to the arrival of winter. We are intensifying our efforts to protect the environment and forests,” Fuad Ahmed Zirari, Spokesperson for the Forest and Environment Police in Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw.
‘’We have arrested 150 violators within the past two months” Fuad explained, adding that they have seized 1,125 bags of coal and cutting means.
The mountainous Kurdistan Region once had some of the densest woods, containing wildlife rich with bears, mountain goats, wolves and leopards. But years of war, economic sanctions and neglect by Baghdad destroyed much of the habitat and wildlife.
A survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture has recently revealed that, over the past 50 years, the Kurdistan Region has lost 50 percent of its artificial forests and 30 percent of its natural forests.
Fuad said 372 trees have been cut down in the last two months alone.
The Environment Law, passed in the Kurdish parliament in 2012, gives greater authority to forces policing the environment.
“In recent months, people have been cutting down trees on a large scale due to the arrival of winter. We are intensifying our efforts to protect the environment and forests,” Fuad Ahmed Zirari, Spokesperson for the Forest and Environment Police in Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw.
‘’We have arrested 150 violators within the past two months” Fuad explained, adding that they have seized 1,125 bags of coal and cutting means.
The mountainous Kurdistan Region once had some of the densest woods, containing wildlife rich with bears, mountain goats, wolves and leopards. But years of war, economic sanctions and neglect by Baghdad destroyed much of the habitat and wildlife.
A survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture has recently revealed that, over the past 50 years, the Kurdistan Region has lost 50 percent of its artificial forests and 30 percent of its natural forests.
Fuad said 372 trees have been cut down in the last two months alone.
The Environment Law, passed in the Kurdish parliament in 2012, gives greater authority to forces policing the environment.
