Shafaq News/ Deputy Environment Minister Kamal Hussein said to "Shafaq  News", the Ministry of Environment has completed an operational plan to initiate a strategic project to combat desertification in Iraq.The Ministry of Environment revealed, earlier, the transformation of 100 000 acres into barren farmland a year in Iraq, prompting it to lack of water and high temperatures as well as not taking notice by the government to serious environmental risks plaguing Iraq."The environment minister instructed to form a committee under my chairmanship to study the operational plan, and concluded the study to develop two axes, the first to put the data through the mapping and the preparation of satellite images of areas affected by desertification, as well as for the detection of groundwater that the plan will need for the cultivation of plants that prevent desertification. " Hussein said .

" The second axis contains 15 projects for implementation of the UNCCD through the cultivation of plants resistant to harsh environmental conditions, as well as spraying of chemicals and biological that are fixative and fortifying  for the soil."

The Deputy Minister of the Environment, " called on the Agriculture Ministry to further cooperation and coordination between the two ministries for the success of the strategic project in the fight against desertification."

The Ministry of Agriculture has announced, earlier, for allocation of 22 billion dinars to combat desertification in the country, pointing that the Minister of Agriculture instructed for the intensified cultivation of palm trees for the whole of Iraq to curb this phenomenon and to preserve the beauty of the cities.

Iraqi experts and specialists warned that Iraqi airspace may be exposed to dust storms over the next twenty years. These warnings came on the anniversary of the World Day to Combat Desertification, which was approved by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1992.