ERBIL — The head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq confirmed on Monday that the country loses 100,000 dunams annually due to climate change, desertification, and drought.

Fadhel Al-Gharawi, head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq, added in a statement to local Iraqi media that the area of desertified land in Iraq amounts to about 27 million dunams, approximately 15 percent of the country's total area.

He noted that about 55 percent of Iraq's area is considered threatened by desertification, indicating that the vegetation cover in Iraq has decreased from 50% to 17%.

Al-Gharawi stressed that, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, forest areas in Iraq now constitute only 8,250 square kilometers, or 2% of the total area of the country.

He added that extreme weather, climate change, sandstorms, scarcity of rain, and global warming have contributed to the decline in vegetation cover in Iraq.

The head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq, explained that the lack of vegetation cover has led to increased pollution rates, which pose direct threats to human health and food security.

Al-Gharawi called on the government, all governorates, institutions, and citizens to launch a campaign to plant 15 billion trees of perennial species that are resistant to climate conditions over the next ten years to compensate for the severe shortage in vegetation cover.