Iraq Plants Mangrove Forest to Fight Climate Disaster

General view of Abu Dhabi's Grey mangrove (avicennia marina), which can grow in highly saline water, most commonly in the UAE, at the Eastern Mangrove National Park, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
General view of Abu Dhabi's Grey mangrove (avicennia marina), which can grow in highly saline water, most commonly in the UAE, at the Eastern Mangrove National Park, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
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Iraq Plants Mangrove Forest to Fight Climate Disaster

General view of Abu Dhabi's Grey mangrove (avicennia marina), which can grow in highly saline water, most commonly in the UAE, at the Eastern Mangrove National Park, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
General view of Abu Dhabi's Grey mangrove (avicennia marina), which can grow in highly saline water, most commonly in the UAE, at the Eastern Mangrove National Park, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana

As Aymen al-Rubaye plants mangrove seedlings in the sprawling tidal flats of southern Iraq, the black smoke rising over the skyline behind him shows the ecological damage that he is toiling to undo.

Rubaye, an agricultural engineer, is working for a project started by Iraqi government bodies and a United Nations agency to grow up to 4 million mangrove trees in the Khor al-Zubair mudflats region, located near major oil fields, Reuters said.

Ankle-deep mud sucks at his boots as he pats down a seedling and moves on to plant another, part of what he hopes will become a mangrove forest that protects the coast, shelters vulnerable species and battles climate change.

"This plant will save us time and effort in our fight against global warming", he said, describing the plant's ability to capture and store carbon dioxide.

Iraq's carbon emissions have more than doubled over the past decade, according to the World Bank, making it one of the region's worst polluters when measured against the size of its economy.

The tidal flats south of Basra are a baking landscape of water, salt, mud and hazy sky, riven by channels that Rubaye and his team navigate by boat.

The smoke in the distance is billowing from a petrochemical plant near Zubair oil field, some 20 kilometers (13 miles) away, part of a vast energy sector that provides the bulk of Iraq's income and is the main industry - and polluter - in the Basra area.

Southern Iraq was once known for rich marshes that were drained decades ago in an environmental catastrophe that wrecked a complex eco-system and pushed many of its inhabitants to ruin.

Planting mangroves on the tidal flats, south of where the marshes once lay, can protect coastal communities from storms and floods and create a new home for threatened species without using any of Iraq's scarce freshwater for irrigation.

The scheme was inspired by successful projects to rehabilitate mangrove forests in nearby Kuwait and in the United Arab Emirates at the other end of the Gulf.

Mangrove plants "can resist these harsh conditions we are passing through" without needing irrigation water, Rubaye said. Mangroves thrive in the sort of hot, muddy and salty conditions that most other plants find inhospitable.

The new trees come from a nursery where 12,000 seedlings were growing, said Ahmed Albaaj of the UN's World Food Program, which worked on the project with Basra's local government and university, and Iraq's environment ministry.



Europe Had Most Widespread Floods for More Than a Decade in 2024, Scientists Say 

A person cycles along a flooded road after the overtopping of the River Thames on a spring tide, in west London, Britain, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
A person cycles along a flooded road after the overtopping of the River Thames on a spring tide, in west London, Britain, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
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Europe Had Most Widespread Floods for More Than a Decade in 2024, Scientists Say 

A person cycles along a flooded road after the overtopping of the River Thames on a spring tide, in west London, Britain, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
A person cycles along a flooded road after the overtopping of the River Thames on a spring tide, in west London, Britain, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)

Europe faced its most widespread flooding last year since 2013, with 30% of the continent's river network hit by significant floods, scientists said on Tuesday, as fossil fuel-driven climate change continued to prompt torrential rain and other extreme weather.

Flooding killed at least 335 people in Europe in 2024 and affected more than 410,000, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization said in a joint report on Europe's climate.

Western Europe was hit hardest, with 2024 ranking among the region's ten wettest years in records going back to 1950. Storms and flooding are Europe's costliest weather extremes, last year causing damage exceeding 18 billion euros.

Globally, 2024 was the world's warmest year since records began, as well as the warmest for Europe - the planet's fastest-warming continent. The planet is now around 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than in pre-industrial times, mainly due to human-caused climate change.

"Every additional fraction of a degree of temperature rise matters because it accentuates the risks to our lives, to economies and to the planet," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

The report noted bright spots, including that renewable energy sources produced a record-high 45% of Europe's energy in 2024, while most European cities have plans in place to better adapt to climate change.

But weather extremes were recorded across the continent. Southeastern Europe had its longest heat wave on record, totaling 13 days, while Scandinavia's glaciers shrank at the highest rates on record, and heat stress increased across the continent.

Much of Eastern Europe was hit by lack of rain and drought, while floods ravaged western Europe.

Nearly a third of Europe's overall river network exceeded a "high" flood threshold, while 12% breached "severe" flood levels in 2024.

Devastating floods in Valencia in late October accounted for most of the lives lost and economic damage caused in Europe by floods, with 232 people killed in the disaster. Storm Boris in September dumped the heaviest rain ever recorded in Central Europe onto countries, including Austria, Czechia, Germany and Slovakia.

Scientists have confirmed climate change has made such downpours more likely, because a hotter atmosphere can hold more water, leading to intense rain. Atmospheric water vapor reached a record high in 2024.

Other factors that influence flooding include river management and urban planning that determine whether homes and infrastructure are built in flood-prone areas.