Prof. Dr. Isam Mohammed Abdulhameed

Researcher at the Upper Euphrates Basin Development Center / University of Anbar

There have been many proposals to establish green belts around cities to improve environmental conditions and reduce dust storms and their large health, environmental and economic impacts. Does Iraq have a water resource that guarantees the establishment and sustainability of these green belts in light of the global water crisis and climate changes that Iraq is one of the most countries in the world affected out?

Modern global water classifications confirm the possibility of using saline water to irrigate a large number of plants and achieve acceptable production within the specifications of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the International (FAO).

It should be noted that the first written classification of water is an Iraqi classification written in Baghdad in the Abbasid era, classifying water into six classes according to its salinity.Verseblessed:

(One is fresh and sweet, palatable for drinking, and one is salty and bitter) (Fatir: 12)

From here, we chose the name of our first program that we did prepare it to manage saline water in irrigation, with reference to the oldest written classification of water, and we called the program (Furat-Ajaj) and symbolized it (F.Uj)

It was found that farmers in many countries around world use saline well water to irrigate palm orchards with sandy soil, and Algeria is among those countries that have been using saline water for decades.

For nearly seven decades, researchers' studies have focused on effect of salinity on different plants, they found that all plants tolerate a certain range of salinity, called the salinity vulnerability threshold, after which the production decline begins according to a linear relationship.

In a year1977, the researchers (Maas and Hoffmann) classified all plants into four classes according to their tolerance to salinity, and symbols for each class are given by the first letter of the English name for it:

1- Sensitive (S)

2- Medium susceptibility (MS)

3- Medium tolerant (MT)

4- Tolerant (T)

Figure (1). The linear relationships between production and salinity.

Figure (1) shows the linear relationships between production and salinity, after this classification, which is a qualitative leap in the management of the use of saline water in irrigation, the researcher (Roads) developed in 1992 a new classification for water, where water with saline concentrations of 1500 to 7000ppm is medium salinity and that it can be used in the irrigation of some crops under field management conditions that ensure the sustainability of these projects and not deteriorate.

In the most recent study we supervised, our student Hala Nadhim Molouki concluded that the waters of the general estuary in central and south of Iraq can be used in agriculture under appropriate field management conditions. Included the soil did not deteriorate, and the possibility of establishing a green belt of palm and olive groves was reached, with a width of about9km on both sides of the general estuary and along the approx500km from the city of Ishaqi, north of Baghdad, to the province of Basra, which contributes to improving the country's environment and limits dust storms and their great damage to the environment and economy of our dear homeland.

Our research center has accumulated advisory experience that qualifies it to prepare detailed studies for the design and follow-up of the implementation of this giant project, which will transform about half a million hectares of the desert of central and southern Iraq into a green belt producing dates and olives, and the consequent creation of job opportunities and a variety of food industries.