Following killing of rare brown bear

Lack of environmental police in Balakayati raises concerns over conservation

2024-08-25 | 15:15

BALAKAYATI — The Balakayati area, renowned for its natural beauty and biodiversity within Erbil’s Choman district, faces significant environmental threats due to the absence of dedicated environmental and forestry police.

Local residents and officials are increasingly concerned about the lack of official oversight, which has allowed environmental violations to proliferate unchecked. Balakayati, encompassing the sub-districts of Smilan, Galala, Qasre, and Haji Omaran along with 116 villages, has no local environmental police station. The nearest station is in Soran city, northern Erbil, which is already overstretched and unable to effectively cover the Balakayati area.

Amir Khoshawi, a spokesperson for the Soran Forestry and Environmental Police, explained the challenge: “There used to be Peshmerga forces dedicated to environmental protection in the area, but they were redeployed in 2014 during the fight against ISIS, and they have not returned since. Currently, we do not conduct environmental operations in the Choman district.”

Efforts to establish a local environmental police station have been stalled by staffing challenges, according to requests made by Soran to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Interior. Hazhar Mahir, head of the Soran Environmental Department, highlighted the dire consequences of this gap in enforcement. “The absence of an environmental and forestry police station in Balakayati has led to an increase in environmental violations,” Mahir said.

A recent incident underscored the urgency of the situation: a rare brown bear was found dead, apparently shot, last week. Soran civil defense police recovered and mummified the remains, drawing attention to the ongoing threats to wildlife in the area.

The picturesque landscape of Balakayati, which includes popular tourist destinations such as Przhe, Ene, Werte, Sakran Mountain, and Felaw Pond, attracts many visitors annually, further emphasizing the need for robust environmental protection.

In response, Leopards Beyond Borders, an organization focused on protecting endangered wildlife like Persian leopards and brown bears in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, has proposed the creation of ranger forces or “Nature Peshmerga” to safeguard the region’s wildlife and natural resources.