DUHOK, Kurdistan Region - As winter is around the corner, woodcutters have started chopping down trees in the Kurdistan Region's mountainous areas of Duhok province due to growing demand in the rural areas amid high heating oil prices.
Forest rangers in Duhok announced on Wednesday that they arrested two people in the village of Lomana, Zaweta sub-district for cutting a myriad of trees and trying to sell them at markets.
This is not the first time that people have been arrested and held accountable for cutting trees in the Kurdistan Region.
Jamal Saado, commander of the Environment Protection Peshmerga Forces of Duhok, told Rudaw's Naif Ramazan they have so far this year arrested 21 people on charges of chopping trees in Duhok.
"Investigations will be done with both violators. They have been arrested on charges of cutting down trees. We will make them fill out a pledge form so that they will not repeat this violation again. And the vehicles that they used to carry the chopped trees away, as well as all the chopped trees, will too be seized," he said.
Ramazan Syari, an officer at the Environment Protection Peshmerga Forces of Duhok, said “They may have already taken 50 pickup trucks of trees. But we managed to seize hopped trees in the size of 20 trucks that they had piled up here to take them as well. As you can see, all the trees here are wet and no one of them has dried up."
Several people across the Kurdistan Region on a monthly basis are arrested for cutting down trees, including a man who cut down more than 1,000 oak trees in Duhok province last year.
According to studies by Duhok University, there are two million dunams of forests in Duhok. However, they are under serious threat of deforestation.
Green spaces in the Duhok province are severely damaged due to sporadic armed clashes and aerial bombardments of Turkey.
The Kurdistan Region’s Forest Police and Environment Directorate has previously told Rudaw that more than 4,000 dunams of land and green spaces had been burned by Turkish bombardments and myriads more cut down in Duhok province since the beginning of 2021.
Forest rangers in Duhok announced on Wednesday that they arrested two people in the village of Lomana, Zaweta sub-district for cutting a myriad of trees and trying to sell them at markets.
This is not the first time that people have been arrested and held accountable for cutting trees in the Kurdistan Region.
Jamal Saado, commander of the Environment Protection Peshmerga Forces of Duhok, told Rudaw's Naif Ramazan they have so far this year arrested 21 people on charges of chopping trees in Duhok.
"Investigations will be done with both violators. They have been arrested on charges of cutting down trees. We will make them fill out a pledge form so that they will not repeat this violation again. And the vehicles that they used to carry the chopped trees away, as well as all the chopped trees, will too be seized," he said.
Ramazan Syari, an officer at the Environment Protection Peshmerga Forces of Duhok, said “They may have already taken 50 pickup trucks of trees. But we managed to seize hopped trees in the size of 20 trucks that they had piled up here to take them as well. As you can see, all the trees here are wet and no one of them has dried up."
Several people across the Kurdistan Region on a monthly basis are arrested for cutting down trees, including a man who cut down more than 1,000 oak trees in Duhok province last year.
According to studies by Duhok University, there are two million dunams of forests in Duhok. However, they are under serious threat of deforestation.
Green spaces in the Duhok province are severely damaged due to sporadic armed clashes and aerial bombardments of Turkey.
The Kurdistan Region’s Forest Police and Environment Directorate has previously told Rudaw that more than 4,000 dunams of land and green spaces had been burned by Turkish bombardments and myriads more cut down in Duhok province since the beginning of 2021.
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