ŞINYAR BAYÎZ

Sulaymaniyah – In spring, nature becomes more beautiful. People have picnics and hold festivals in spring. However, they pollute nature after the picnics, trips, and festivals because they leave litter behind them. As NuJINHA, we joined the Elî Beg Caf Festival held in the Baxan village of Sulaymaniyah’s Qaradagh district on April 1. Thousands of dollars were spent for this festival, but this money was not used for cleaning up the area after the festival. A week after the festival, the area was filled with waste materials which includes plastic bottles, food waste, abandoned tents, and clothing.

“The government does not care about nature”

Habib Mehemed Caf, a board member of the festival, stated that all waste materials left were collected in previous years, “This year, the Qaradagh municipality stated that they would collect all waste materials if they took their share. However, they didn’t collect them even if they were paid. Last year, they collected all waste materials after the festival. Unfortunately, the government took over the cleaning services this year and they didn’t collect the waste materials because the government does not care about nature.”

“Human activities cause environmental pollution”

“Human activities cause environmental pollution,” Rojan Feridun, a university professor and environmentalist, said that nature becomes more polluted as world pollution increases. “Pollution causes a negative effect on our earth and the citizens act unconsciously. Plastic materials are toxic materials that harm living organisms on earth. Citizens can use glass materials instead of plastic materials when they go out into nature.” 

“Responsibilities are not fulfilled”

 Stating that people do not fulfill their responsibilities to protect nature because there is no environmental awareness, Rojan Feridun said, “The current political and economic situation in the Kurdistan Region causes this. Citizens and the government don’t fulfill their responsibilities to protect nature. Citizens and the government should fulfill their responsibilities and produce solutions to protect nature.”