A UN report has warned of the risks of increasing drought rates globally, as 75% of the world's land has become desertified.

The report placed Iraq among the five countries most affected by climate change due to multiple seasons of reduced rainfall and the continued use of traditional irrigation methods.

Walid Al-Mousawi, Director of the Environment Department in Basra Governorate, declared that "climate change is a global phenomenon, and Iraq is extremely affected by it due to water scarcity and the lack of water resources from upstream countries.

Al-Mousawi called for measures to limit and reduce desertification and the retreat of the green belt, "thereby promoting a culture among citizens themselves of the need for planting and maintaining crops and preserving them.