The Ministry of Environment announced, today Thursday, a state of environmental emergency in Iraq, while launching a national movement to combat pollution.
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The ministry stated in a statement received by the Video News Agency that "under the sponsorship of the first deputy speaker of the parliament, Adnan Fihaan Al-Dulaimi, and in a step that moves the environmental file from monitoring to response and from diagnosis to treatment, the Ministry of Environment launched the monitoring and response platform for environmental complaints, in the presence of the Minister of Environment, Sarwa Abdul Wahid, the Minister of Water Resources, the Secretary of Baghdad, the Governor of Baghdad, and a number of Members of Parliament and representatives of concerned ministries and agencies."
The minister announced the "state of environmental emergency in Iraq," calling for "urgent and integrated government action to tackle pollution and its causes."
Abdul Wahid confirmed that "the environmental reality in Iraq has reached a stage that requires exceptional measures," noting that "the next phase relies on accurate data and numbers that reveal the extent of pollution, its locations, sources, and the responsible parties, leading to solutions that target the causes and not just the results."
The minister emphasized that "protecting the environment is a shared national responsibility, and the Ministry of Environment cannot confront it alone," calling for "the provision of financial and technical resources and enhancing cooperation among state institutions, to effectively handle the accumulated environmental issues."
The first deputy speaker of the parliament stressed the "importance of integrating the legislative and supervisory role with executive efforts, and for state institutions to assume their responsibilities in confronting pollution."
The ministry pointed out that "the meeting concluded that there is a necessity to prepare an environmental emergency plan that includes clear priorities and executive procedures to address the most urgent files and activate legal accountability against those responsible."
The ministry stated that "the platform is intended to be an executive tool for receiving, documenting environmental complaints, identifying violations and sources of pollution, and linking monitoring with response and legal actions, which enhances the ability of the competent authorities to follow up on cases and take the necessary remedies."