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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A large number of volunteers comprising locals, civil organizations, government officials, and diplomatic mission representatives came together over the weekend to clear the Tigris River in Baghdad from litter.
The campaign has been ongoing for a year and a half now, according to the organizer.
"We have been doing this campaign for about a year and a half now. We launched this campaign with one person and one experience, and now we have reached this number,” Murtadha al-Tameemi, campaign organizer, told Rudaw's Mustafa Goran on Friday.
Tameemi said their campaign has grown in popularity with people from all walks of life joining them, adding that they are currently receiving support and assistance from bodies within the Iraqi government and the United Nations.
Representatives from the environment ministry, Baghdad’s central municipality, the Canadian embassy, and a number of civil organizations took part in the campaign.
They say their aim is to raise awareness among society to avoid littering the river.
During the two-hour-long campaign, around 300 square meters of the water was cleared of litter. Ten tons of garbage was removed from the river.
Iraq’s historic Euphrates and Tigris face a range of environmental challenges. Tons of garbage at the banks of the rivers, mainly plastic items left behind by picnickers
Water levels in the rivers have also significantly dropped over the past decade.
In a stark warning of the threats a hotter climate poses to the country, a report by Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources towards the end of last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq's two main waterways will be dry by 2040.
Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN. The issue is exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian dams on rivers that flow into Iraq, cutting off the increasingly dry nation from much-needed water.
The campaign has been ongoing for a year and a half now, according to the organizer.
"We have been doing this campaign for about a year and a half now. We launched this campaign with one person and one experience, and now we have reached this number,” Murtadha al-Tameemi, campaign organizer, told Rudaw's Mustafa Goran on Friday.
Tameemi said their campaign has grown in popularity with people from all walks of life joining them, adding that they are currently receiving support and assistance from bodies within the Iraqi government and the United Nations.
Representatives from the environment ministry, Baghdad’s central municipality, the Canadian embassy, and a number of civil organizations took part in the campaign.
They say their aim is to raise awareness among society to avoid littering the river.
During the two-hour-long campaign, around 300 square meters of the water was cleared of litter. Ten tons of garbage was removed from the river.
Iraq’s historic Euphrates and Tigris face a range of environmental challenges. Tons of garbage at the banks of the rivers, mainly plastic items left behind by picnickers
Water levels in the rivers have also significantly dropped over the past decade.
In a stark warning of the threats a hotter climate poses to the country, a report by Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources towards the end of last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq's two main waterways will be dry by 2040.
Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN. The issue is exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian dams on rivers that flow into Iraq, cutting off the increasingly dry nation from much-needed water.
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