Conflict and the Environment in Iraq

Protected Areas and Important Sites
Information available indicates that there is no legislation to protect habitats and ecosystems for nature conservation. The Iraqi government appears to generally give low priority to nature conservation, with only a few conservation laws known to exist, mostly relating to restrictions on hunting and fishing. These laws, Forestry Law No. 75, Environment wildlife Law and Hunting Laws Nos. 40 and 41, seem to only exist on paper and have never been implemented or enforced.

Forty-two "important bird areas" (IBAs), covering approximately 35,000 sq. km (8%) of the country have been identified by BirdLife International for potential designation as a protected area. Such areas are selected where:

1). They support globally threatened bird species
2). Areas where birds concentrate in important numbers, either when breeding, on passage or in winter;
3). Support species that are threatened or declining throughout all or large part of their range in the Middle East;
4). Sites for species which have relatively small world ranges with important populations in the Middle East;
5). Sites for representative, rare, threatened or unique habitats possessing characteristic associated bird communities;
6). Sites important for bird conservation because of their value for education, research or tourism.

Identified sites in Iraq include permanent (mostly in the south of the country) and seasonal (in the north) wetland sites. Other habitats such as grasslands, woodlands and shrub steppes are very poorly represented, primarily due to the low level of systematic ornithological survey over the last 30 years. Further information on IBAs can be obtained from BirdLife International.

A number of potential protected areas, their size, location and key habitats are identified on the IMAPS map of Iraq.

At international level, Iraq is a contracting party to the World Heritage Convention, It has yet to designate any natural World Heritage Sites, although Hatra in northern Iraq, was designated as a Cultural World Heritage Site in 1985. Iraq is not party to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention), despite the presence of internationally important wetlands and marshes within its boundaries, although there is a National Committee of the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme. Other key biodiversity conventions Iraq has not signed include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)


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