The President of the University of Basrah, Dr. Saad Shaheen Hammadi, and the Governor of Basra, Eng. Asaad Al-Eidani, inaugurated the mangrove nursery in Khor Al-Zubair, the branching area which was funded by the World Food Program, in the presence of the UN representative in Iraq, Jenin Blaskhart.
The President of the University of Basrah stated that the opening of the nursery is an important addition to the region and expresses the efforts of the local government to preserve and improve the environment, especially in light of the challenges facing the world in general, which require exceptional efforts from us to preserve our planet, and the field area reached 2 dunums with a capacity of 500 seedlings and under the supervision of specialists from the Center for Marine Sciences.
The supervisor of the nursery and environmental affairs specialist at the Marine Sciences Center, Dr. Ayman Abdel Latif, indicated that “mangroves are important trees that help regulate the environment and preserve wetlands. It is considered the base of the pyramid in the food chain for the marine life community. It is also one of the best trees for absorbing carbon gases, as it absorbs six times the amount absorbed by tropical forests, and the root system of the plant can store 50 times the amount that can be stored by any other plant, which makes it one of the important trees to preserve the environment and to meet the challenges of climate change”.
Abdul Latif added, “Our initiative also aims to provide job opportunities for the local population to improve their income and help them overcome the challenges of climate change, as 80% of fishermen suffer from the risk of leaving work and being displaced from fisheries areas, which will directly affect local food security. We hope that this nursery will be a source of inspiration and an incentive for all individuals and institutions to work together to preserve and improve the environment and reduce emissions, as this nursery comes without carbon emissions, and thus it presents a unique model of environmental projects”.
