ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five new parks are being completed in Erbil and will open to the public this year, the governor said on Friday.
“In order to increase the amount of greenery and further protect the environment, construction has started on five large parks in the center of Erbil, on an area of 200 dunams of land, in which 40,000 trees will be planted. All five parks will be completed this year,” Erbil Governor Omed Xoshnaw said in a Facebook post.
Erbil is greening the city in an effort to combat air pollution and climate change. It has launched the first phase of a green belt project that includes planting millions of trees and constructing artificial ponds.
“The ratio of green space in Erbil, from the centre to the edge of the 150 meter ring [road] is about 19.8%,” the head of Erbil’s parks engineering department, Sarwar Waisi, told Rudaw in August.
“Erbil’s Green Belt Project has started around the 150-meter road. In the first phase, pistachio and olive trees will be planted… and more than ten artificial ponds will be created to irrigate the trees,” he said.
“We want to protect Erbil from dust storms and reduce their impact, and we also want to protect agricultural lands so they won’t be turned into investment projects,” Waisi explained, adding that the project will also create job opportunities for the city’s young people.
Erbil has struggled with one of the highest levels of air pollution in Iraq, driven by smoke from diesel power generators, heavy car emissions using low-quality fuel, and frequent dust storms. Air quality has improved as a result of a government effort to shut down private, diesel-burning generators.
Iraq is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.