Qara Dagh is a mountain ridge with dense oak woodlands located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It is home to one of the most elusive predators on the planet: the Persian leopard. This extremely rare predator became the focus and flagship for the establishment of the first nature reserve in the entire region, the Qara Dagh Nature Reserve.

​Qara Dagh is famous for many things, but until recently, nature conservation was not one of them. The local nature conservation NGO Nature Iraq listed Qara Dagh as a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) and is responsible for the establishment and management of the reserve.

Phragmites australis is the dominant plant of the Mesopotamian marshes. People build their houses, fences, animal pens, floor mats and more out of this fast-growing, renewable resource. Marsh dwellers spend a lot of time harvesting and processing the reeds. This woman is heading home at dusk with a full load of the reeds. Click to enlarge. Plus, see the full photo gallery of images.

EJ InSight: Reporting from Iraq — with Both Camera and Notebook

EDITOR’S NOTE: In this issue, SEJournal launches a new quarterly section devoted to visual journalism — Environmental Journalism InSight. Edited by former SEJournal photo editor Roger Archibald, it will explore the whole range of photojournalism, videography, information graphics and data visualization, and how those specialties are combining more and more with traditional print reporting. Starting today with Erica Gies, contributors will share their experiences into how they’re adapting to the new concept of multimedia journalism, and provide valuable insights into helping us all do the same.
By Erica Gies

Here you can read more about the article.

Read the whole article in detail at ►bioGraphic ◄

Goal of the Project
Nature Iraq endeavors to protect the cultural heritage of the marsh area by documenting the skills used in making household tools. Such skills are declining in the market due to the competition of the cheap alternative products. The use of such tool was the traditional way women and men in the marshes act when producing raw materials and end products that can be sold in Iraq. Such product include handmade carpets, rugs, palm leaf chairs, the traditional boats, reed rugs, reed baskets, hats, hand fans, purses, head scarfs, etc.
The main goal of the project is to communicate such skills to younger generations and document them by means of the audio-visual devices and record the manufacturing process from input to the final output. The documentation materials will be edited and uploaded on Nature  Iraq’s website to share them with the world. Also, Nature Iraq will train selected candidates (mostly girls) to manufacture and sell their products. Also, the organization will hold exhibitions for such products in various area of Iraq to introduce and promote them and to find suitable marketing outlets.
Unfortunately, the traditional tools began to disappear fast from the market due to the availability of the cheap plastic products. Many of the things used daily in Iraq which are made of plant products began to disappear from the market and one has to travel to the remote villages to buy them. As such, the traditional skills are declining and will also disappear if nothing is done to document them. Our goal is to document these skills and revive the traditions of the area. This can be done by training young girls and boys in order to pass the knowedge to a generation or two for the preservation of the skills and traditions which managed to survive the ages.

The Project Activities

1. Video-taped training (6 trainees per workshop)
2. Documentation of the handcraft products and workshops
3. Documentary videos with a film about the project to  be uploaded to the website
4. Exhibitions of handcraft products and photographs in conferences and celebration

More about the project:
http://www.natureiraq.org/preservation-and-the-digital-documentation-of-the-traditional-handcrafts.html
Project Photos:
http://www.natureiraq.org/photo-gallery.html
​Project Videos:
http://www.natureiraq.org/videos.html

The Blue Shadows project is a year-term pilot project. It is mutually implemented between the Italian Water Rights Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Union of Municipalities of Valdarno and Valdisieve and Nature Iraq. The project aim is to river rehabilitation interventions by means of Riparian Forestation.

​​For several years, the Italian Water Rights Foundation has been mutually working with the Iraq Waterkeeper Environmental law and advocacy project of Nature Iraq serving the environment of Kurdistan Region of Iraq and enhancing capabilities of its authorities especially working with entities and certain organizations in the field of environment. They have been aiming at their role in maintaining the environment, improving the quality of life in Kurdistan Region and in benefiting from data of environmental projects implemented in Italy. It is worth mentioning that, so far, nearly 250 trainees have been benefitting from the Italian Water Rights Foundation trainings in Kurdistan Region of Iraq in addition to arrangement of several joint meetings with the Region governmental authorities and discussing available laws and regulations, suggesting change in certain laws to suit the current status of the Region.

​​Blue Shadows project is working on maintaining and improving the quality of water in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The most outstanding recommendation was the minimization of river water evaporation level by planting trees and increasing green spaces all along rivers.

​This pilot project included five phases. At the commencement of the first phase of the project, we made preparations and started data sharing with Water Rights Foundation and Friends of the Earth through social communication, made us get together, working on such important pilot project. We believe that cooperation of the Italian government and its organizations through several projects will make us offer our best services for the environment of Kurdistan Region of Iraq and create the most suitable and healthiest life status for our coming generations and that through changing the water quality and quantity as an outstanding factor of the living environment we will.

Nature Iraq in cooperation with the project partners, Local authorities, NGOs and volunteers in KRG on 21st June 2018 held the KickOff meeting and workshop of the project at Abusana meeting hall in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq;
To present the project to the participants, open debate on pilot sites, what are the requirements for the project, methods of plantation, plant species suitable for the recommended areas and how to get more projects through the pilot project.

Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) is a conservation term that has only come into use relatively recently, and which signifies a natural extension to the Important Bird Area (IBA) initiative, moving from conserving sites for birds to conserving sites for all taxa. Like IBAs, KBAs are areas of above-average value for wildlife, by virtue of supporting globally threatened, endemic or congregatory species, in good numbers or diversities. As with IBAs, they should be delineable and (potentially) manageable as 'protected areas'.

Read more: ​​https://www.osme.org/content/key-biodiversity-areas-iraq

Read more about the article:
https://britishbirds.co.uk/article/key-biodiversity-areas-iraq/

BB eye (British Birds) report 
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​Birding in a conflict zone: a 50-year perspective
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Read the report in PDF format at here.
Original link at here.

Nature Iraq, in collaboration with Komar Univeristy, the AUIS Environment Keepers, Sulaimani University, interns, and volunteers by an event have successfully celebrated the World Wildlife Day on March 3rd 2018 at Majidi Mall in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
Here you can find more about the event.

​World Wildlife Day is on March 3rd.
​
​The theme for World Wildlife Day 2018 is 'Big Cats: Predators under Threat'

Nature Iraq, in collaboration with Sulaimani University, Komar Univeristy, the AUIS Environment Keepers, interns, and volunteers; will celebrate World Wildlife Day to raise awareness on the conservation of threatened animals, specifically the Persian Leopard in Iraqi Kurdistan. The event will be held at Majidi Mall in Sulaymaniyah-Iraq, on March 3rd, at 6:00-8:00 PM.
The event activities will include:
Handing out an infographic brochure about the Persian Leopard and the importance of protecting this flagship species, in Kurdish language.
We will distribute handmade Leopard masks on sticks for kids.
Photos of people at the event will be taken with the WWD2018 action cards.
The WWD posters will be distributed.
The WWD2018 advocacy video as well as our Persian Leopard Conservation project video will be screened.
Signatures will be collected to enforce the local government to make protected areas creation a priority, using the Leopard as a flagship species. We will post our event activities to Nature Iraq websites, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

Our members are invited to attend this event. Help us celebrate this day and raise awareness on the conservation of the Persian Leopard in Kurdistan. Let's build a better future together, for us and the wildlife.