Wildfires Rage Across Iraqi Kurdistan as Conflict Intensifies

Thousands of civilians are forced to flee their homes, losing their livelihoods as the decades-long war is flaring up in the last five years. The humanitarian crisis resulting from the ongoing hostilities, coupled with environmental degradation and climate change, poses a significant threat to the region’s biodiversity and livelihoods.

The Zagros Mountains, a haven for unique wildlife and flora, are increasingly threatened by human activity, including the ongoing conflict. As governments are discussing the impact of the triple planetary crisis around climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution at various international conferences, armed conflict is often ignored as a contributing factor to this crisis. 

To highlight the environmental impact of the conflict, PAX analyzed satellite imagery of burned areas and combined it with public data on military activity. The analysis reveals a strong correlation between military operations and wildfires.

Conflict-caused wildfires have been a recurring issue in the spring and summer in Iraqi Kurdistan. With rising temperatures in the normally already hot and dry summer, vegetation in the region is much more susceptible to wildfires. There are many natural or human-made causes for wildfires, such lighting strikespost-harvest stub burning to make land more fertile, or incidents linked with picnics. These fires can be spotted as the burned land is visible in the fertile agricultural plains of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Yet a substantial part of the visible burned land is occurring in the rugged mountainous areas where the PKK is having its hideouts. In fact, they often coincide with publicly reported military activities. The findings of this analysis demonstrate that 7 percent of burned land is likely to be caused by conflict events, of which a majority can be linked to airstrikes or shelling by Turkey on suspected positions of PKK militants.