Recovering the Wild: Conservation of imperiled oak woodlands in Kurdistan, Iraq

A National Geographic Society-funded partnership initiative of Kurdistan Botanical Foundation, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, and BGCI, 2021-2023 

Oak woodlands, a key forest vegetation type in northern Iraq, provide vital ecosystem services for the region. Amongst other tree taxa, four oak species have been recorded in Iraqi Kurdistan including the locally rare Quercus macranthera, of which only one population with some six mature individuals has been recorded presently for Iraq, in the Sari-Hassan Bag mountains.

Years of war, deforestation, fire, overgrazing, expanding agriculture and unplanned construction have reduced the native forests’ environmental assets and their species diversity. To promote their regeneration, over the past three years, this collaborative initiative has surveyed the conservation status of remnant oak populations, collected propagules and developed ex situ conservation collections and nursery stocks of three oak species including Quercus aegilops, Q. infectoria and Q. libani, comprising over 10,000 seedlings.

To enhance plant conservation capacity and raise environmental awareness, this initiative also engaged 150 students, conservation practitioners and local community representatives through technical training and public outreach activities in Qara Dagh, Halabja, Soran, Choman, and Sulaimani. Some 1,200 seedlings were planted as part of population reinforcement efforts in the wild and conservation campaigns in the last year of the project, in Choman and Soran districts of Erbil governorate, Duhok city, as well as the campus of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani and University of Sulaimani, respectively. A further important outcome of this initiative is the formation of a network composed of representatives from local government of the Kurdistan Regional Government (Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Environmental Protection and Improvement Board), Soran and Sulaimani universities as well as non-governmental organisations (Hassar Organization, American Corner in Sulaymaniyah, Choman Cultural Organization, Mergameer Environmental Organization and Yak Dar group) under the aegis of Kurdistan Botanical Foundation, to carry on with the vital conservation efforts in support of the recovery and preservation of Iraq’s unique oak woodlands.