ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of unidentified picnickers burned down an old oak tree, estimated to be around 200 years old, according to locals in the village of Dergzhink, Mangeshke subdistrict in Duhok province, sparking public outrage in the area.
Seethed at the act, villagers are urging the authorities of Duhok to take swift action against the perpetrators and anyone else involved in ruining the nature of their village.
"We have decided to no longer allow picnickers to come to this area after what was done to that oak tree," Ahmed Ali, chieftain of Dergzhink village told Rudaw's Ayub Nasri on Tuesday, adding this is the second time in three months that a 200-year-old oak tree has been set on fire by picnickers.
"This tree that was burned down was 200 years old. It was done by those picnickers that we allowed them to visit and picnic here," the chieftain said angrily.
This is not the first time that people have been involved or held accountable for cutting trees in the Duhok province. Last year, a man was arrested by forest rangers for cutting down more than 1,000 oak trees in the province.
Local authorities of Duhok province have vowed to apprehend the perpetrator and bring them to justice.
"The perpetrator must not get away with that," Duhok governor Ali Tatar told Rudaw. "We will, within the framework of law, hand down the toughest punishment against them."
The governor added that the burning down of the tree was not a crime done against the environment alone, "but the whole of humanity."
Locals and officials in many other parts of the Kurdistan Region, including Erbil province, have warned that the cutting down of trees, mainly old oak trees, is becoming a dangerous phenomenon, especially in the mountainous regions.
Green spaces in the Kurdistan Region are also severely damaged due to sporadic armed clashes and aerial bombardments of Turkey with Duhok province bearing the brunt of the natural crisis.
Kawa Sabri, head of Duhok’s forestry and agriculture directory, told Rudaw in April 2022 that around 50 square kilometers of woodland have been damaged in Duhok in 2021 due to the conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
