Iraq’s Environment
Iraq’s environment has been collapsing at an alarming rate for the past few decades, but the effects of that collapse have become particularly apparent since 2003. The country has now become prone to drought, desertification, devastating dust storms and floods. For an example of what a dust storm looks from the inside, please watch the short video below, which Zaid filmed in Tikrit, Iraq in July 2009.
The colours in the above video have not been tampered with. When dust storms strike Iraq, the air and sky turn dark red and visibility is practically zero, forcing all businesses, schools and state institutions to close. The documents presented here clearly establish that these developments were predicted as early as 2001, and that close to nothing has been done to reverse the current trend or to mitigate its effects on Iraq’s population. Zaid dedicates an entire chapter (Chapter 8) in his book to this issue, which is probably the first attempt to document the dramatic impact that climate change has had on Iraq’s civilian population. The documents included in the zip file below provide significant background information to these dramatic developments.