The vegetation cover is considered one of the important vital indicators in the field of combating desertification, as it indicates negatively or positively the reality of desertification in any patch of desert lands. The vegetation cover also has indicators of the environmental and climatic condition.

The current state of the vegetation cover at the level of the Iraqi Badia is considered degraded in a very large way, as the barren areas represent the vast majority of the total area of the desert, in contrast to the areas that enjoy good vegetation coverage, as they constitute only a very small part of the total area of the desert and are considered random and scattered to an extent..It is worth noting that the areas that enjoy this coverage are exposed to harsh conditions that are heading towards severe deterioration, which portends dire consequences on the level of exacerbation of the phenomenon of desertification in Iraq. Among these conditions we mention:

 1- Severe and frequent dehydration

 2-   Overgrazing of growing plants

3-   Logging

The most important negative outcomes of the deterioration of vegetation cover:

The deterioration of vegetation cover has a significant negative impact on the economic , social,  and environmental levels. As for the economic aspect, as it constitutes the basic building block for the formation of pastures, which are considered one of the most important renewable natural resources in the Iraqi Badia, on which a large sector of sheep breeders in the Badia depend for grazing purposes. This decline led to a significant deterioration in livestock and we began to witness a significant decrease in the number of herds, as we witnessed the demise of entire herds and the abandonment of many breeders from the profession of sheep breeding, according to surveys conducted by field teams affiliated to the Department of Forestry and Combating Desertification in the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture.

On the social level, the deterioration of vegetation cover and the deterioration of pastures and low pastoral productivity has led to the inability of sheep breeders to settle in the grazing areas except for limited periods in order to search for a good pasture for their livestock.High costs of education.

From an environmental point of view, the deterioration of the vegetation cover makes large areas of desert lands vulnerable to wind erosion, which causes dust to be raised when the wind blows. It also makes the soil surface vulnerable to water erosion, which causes the loss of the fertile layer of soil and its erosion to neighboring lands, causing damage to the areas of erosion and sedimentation.

To avoid the negative effects of the deterioration of vegetation cover and its reflection on the exacerbation of the phenomenon of desertification.Serious work is required to rehabilitate the vegetation cover in dry desert areas through the cultivation of drought-tolerant desert plants such as (Atriplex Leucoclada, Haloxylon salicornicum, salsola vermiculata, Holoxylon persicum(.It is worth noting that there are two main points in the field of vegetation rehabilitation:

1-              Natural regeneration of vegetation

2-              Development of natural pastures