Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraq Green Observatory issued a warning on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, over the risk of abandonment facing the “Baghdad Forests” environmental initiative at the Camp Rasheed site in southeastern Baghdad, expressing concern that the designated green zone could be repurposed into a commercial investment project.
In an official statement, the environmental monitor recalled widespread public and institutional optimism following the project’s launch with executive government endorsement, envisioning the forest belt as a vital green lung for an increasingly suffocated capital.
The observatory noted that Baghdad faces severe environmental degradation driven by emissions from industrial facilities, motor vehicle exhausts, and local diesel generators. It further cautioned that the uncoordinated expansion of commercial and residential developments has turned Baghdad into an urban “heat island” deficient in vegetation, placing it among the most pollution-burdened regional and global capitals.
The observatory emphasized that developing Camp Rasheed’s expansive footprint provides a strategic opportunity to rehabilitate an area long misused as an informal waste dumping ground. Realizing the forest project would substantially enhance air quality across neighboring residential quarters, most notably the Al-Za’faraniyah district, which suffers directly from heavy industrial emissions and recurring dust and sandstorms.
The watchdog voiced alarm over the complete absence of on-ground preliminary engineering or planting activities at the designated location. It warned against reallocating the vast state-owned land parcel for real estate or commercial ventures, insisting that the grounds remain ideally sized to establish an integrated ecological barrier capable of lowering atmospheric contaminants and mitigating urban heat across Baghdad.
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