Kuwait Times, Saturday, Jan 21, 2023 | Jamadi Al Thani 28, 1444
Deal signed to combat dust storms
Kuwait:
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR)
signed an agreement with the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) to
finance the adaptation and resilience project for cross-border sand and dust
storms coming from southern Iraq and address the dust problem affecting Kuwait
and Gulf states. KISR’s Director General Dr Manea Al-Sudairawi said in a
statement on Thursday that the project will be implemented in two areas in the
south of Iraqi territory, with an area of 8,212 sq km, as they are major sources
of dust storms.
Both regions were identified after scientific studies carried out by KISR were
published in scientific journals, through which the locations and number of dust
storms that reach Kuwait from 2020 until the end of 2022 were determined,
Sudairawi added. The project aims to identify the causes of sand and dust storms
from the climatic and geological aspects, protect and increase the skills of
adaptation and resilience in storm areas and absorb their negative effects in
order to reduce their occurrence, while achieving a set of sustainable
development goals and produce measurement mechanisms and indicators to mitigate
the effects of storms, he said.
Annual losses resulting from sand and dust storms were estimated at KD 190
million, while the project, which will be implemented through the UN program at
a value of KD 4 million, will target specific areas located 250 km north of the
Kuwaiti border, Dr Sudairawi mentioned. He referred to the direct impact of
those areas, which amounts to 40 percent of the total storms that Kuwait,
southern Iraq and the eastern region of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and parts
of UAE are exposed to.
Dust storms caused the closure of ports and roads, causing huge economic losses,
in addition to health and environmental damage, as cross-border sandstorms that
lead to the accumulation of dust increased from 60 tons per square kilometer in
2006 to over 500 tons per square kilometer in 2022, he indicated. The project
will work to stabilize the soil in the regions of northern Iraq and thus reduce
cross-border dust, Sudairawi said, noting that building barriers inside the
country without addressing the main source will not suffice, especially since
the path of dust starts from those areas, passing through Kuwait to Qatar and
UAE.
Groundbreaking infrastructure will be designed to rehabilitate areas affected by
sand and dust storms and mitigate their harmful effects through several methods,
he said. The project will be carried out through the use of heavy machinery such
as excavators and soil dumpers to place a heavy clay layer, as the consistency
of the clay layer when it rains gives an opportunity for natural plant growth
and the cultivation of drought-resistant fungal trees in windbreaks to help
stabilize the soil and increase plant density, Dr Sudairawi added.
Head of Office at UN-Habitat for Arab Gulf States Dr Ameera Al-Hassan said this
agreement was a result of the deal signed with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic
Development (KFAED), which aims to treat dust from its sources. Dr Hassan
underlined the significance of the agreement, which addresses the problem from
its sources in a sound scientific manner that will result in improving the
public health of the population and dusty areas, as well as improving the
economies of the affected countries. KFAED signed on Oct 27 with UN-Habitat a
grant agreement worth KD 4 million ($13.2 million) to finance the project for
cross-border sand and dust storms between Iraq and Kuwait to reduce the chances
of these storms.