STORY: This gardening volunteer is attempting to fight one of Iraq’s most pressing threats: desertification.
It’s where fertile land dries up and becomes desert, forcing people to move, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
But in a quiet corner of Baghdad, Abdul Karim Abbas is giving away trees to make the city greener.
:: This Earth
At first a nursery in his house, he now plants thousands of seedlings in a mosque yard.
“I usually collect these seeds from what has fallen from trees in public areas. For example, these trees, these seeds, those are free – I find them and turn them into a hotel for birds – I turn them into free oxygen in the streets. It doesn’t cost anything. It only requires determination and will. I also buy other seeds. Sometimes, I work as a labourer – daily wage earner as construction worker – to buy some trees, prune them, propagate them, and distribute them for free.”
An ICRC report says desertification affects 39% of Iraq’s land.
And it’s among the five most climate-vulnerable countries in the world.
Abbas’s nursery is dotted with handwritten signs encouraging environmental action.
“In this nursery, which is a free nursery, you find many slogans urging people to plant and respect trees, such as; “don’t buy a cage, but plant a tree, so you can hear the sounds of birds and nightingales”, “the best time to plant trees was twenty years ago and the most beautiful time is now”. This way I have started urging people to plant.”
As the young trees grow, Abbas and volunteers plant them along sidewalks and public spaces.
Their aim is to turn these barren plots into parks.
Comments are closed.