Environmental activists clear springs, build channels to aid wildlife in Garmian

GARMIAN — A group of environmental activists spent Saturday clearing trash and debris from springs and constructing water channels across the Garmian administration in Sulaymaniyah, aiming to support wildlife amid rising temperatures and worsening water shortages.

Much of the Kurdistan Region has experienced below-average rainfall this year, raising alarm among farmers and prompting residents in multiple areas to hold Salat al-Istisqa, a communal prayer for rain.

“This year the heat arrived early, and with insufficient rainfall, many of the springs have reduced,” Yasin Hama Amin, a local environmental activist, told 964media. “Today, we visited several locations in Garmian and cleared the water sources to serve local wildlife.”

He said activists had observed wildlife deaths in past years due to severe heat and water scarcity and were determined to prevent a repeat this summer. “We’ll continue this work through the end of the summer,” Yasin added.

In January, as the region faced an unusually dry winter, activists in Garmian’s Rzgary subdistrict stepped up efforts to deliver drinking water to wild animals and birds. Separately, for the past four years, two biology professors from Sulaymaniyah University have carried out similar efforts in drought-stricken areas, using camera traps to monitor wildlife. Among the animals captured in the footage was what they believe may be a rare leopard.