“We still need to harvest more rainwater, and I cannot say that we have passed the threat of a drought year, but the situation in the Kurdistan Region is better compared to the other areas in Iraq,” Begard Talabani, the Kurdistan Region's agriculture and water resources minister, told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
“Hopefully we will not experience water scarcity.”
Under the theme of “Shaping Future Governments,” World Government Summit 2024 brought governments, international organizations, thought leaders, and private sector leaders to Dubai to engage in dialogue and identify solutions for global challenges.
Talabani added that despite economic challenges facing the KRG, the ministry has been able to build eight medium-size dams in the past four years, which have greatly contributed to the rainwater harvesting, noting that they are currently working on constructing 11 more dams.
The Kurdistan Region has experienced heavy rainfall this week. High water levels and flash floods during the rainy season in fall and winter are a common and at times deadly occurrence in the Kurdistan Region.
