The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region announced the “Biodiversity in Kurdistan” project at a ceremony and called on citizens to participate in protecting and documenting Kurdistan’s natural life by providing information and images. He said: “I hope that all of us will be committed to a culture of environmental protection and development and will respect our nature and environment.”
On Tuesday afternoon, 20 October 2026, Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, announced the “Biodiversity in Kurdistan” project at a special ceremony—an important initiative by the Kurdistan Foundation to document, introduce, research and protect the animals, plants and important areas of the Kurdistan Region.
In his speech, the prime minister called on the people of Kurdistan to support this initiative by providing information, views, suggestions, images and natural documentation, and to contribute to introducing and documenting Kurdistan’s ecosystem and protecting its nature.
Text of the Kurdistan Region prime minister’s speech:
In the name of God, the Great and Merciful
I welcome all the esteemed guests; you are most welcome, and I am pleased to be in your company.
Today, we are announcing a very important, special and exceptional project entitled “Biodiversity in Kurdistan,” another important initiative by the Kurdistan Foundation. The project aims to document and introduce the animals, plants and important areas of the Kurdistan Region, identify various plant and animal species, and then conduct research and studies to protect them.
This initiative is a very important step toward introducing the world to more of the diverse components of Kurdistan’s rich and colorful nature. Therefore, I thank the implementers, supervisors, advisers and all the employees of this important project, wish them success and continuity, and declare my full support and that of the Kurdistan Regional Government for them.
Esteemed guests,
God the Almighty has bestowed on Kurdistan a beautiful, enchanting and well-ordered nature; unfortunately, however, because of the wars, invasions and attacks by Kurdistan’s enemies, this beautiful nature has faced extensive devastation, destruction and changes over the past century. Particularly during the former Iraqi regime, thousands of villages and settlements in Kurdistan were burned and destroyed. The mountains, springs, summer resort areas and tourist areas of Kurdistan were blown up; its animals, living creatures and forests were wiped out; and chemical and prohibited weapons were used against the people and the beautiful nature of Kurdistan.
Although after the glorious March 1991 uprising, a large part of Kurdistan’s villages and settlements were rebuilt and services have been provided to them to the extent of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s ability, we still need more services, protection and development.
Undoubtedly, protecting nature and the environment is not solely the government’s responsibility; every person in Kurdistan must work to protect the environment, because it is the public capital and asset of us all. Environmental protection does not mean merely keeping it clean; it also includes protecting trees, water, forests and animals. I hope that all of us will be committed to a culture of environmental protection and development, respect our environment and protect it as we would our own home.
Within this framework, this project will also become an important initiative for the modern and more scientific protection and introduction of Kurdistan’s environment and nature, and will serve as a credible platform and center on biodiversity in the Kurdistan Region, whose objective is the long-term protection of Kurdistan’s wildlife and natural organisms. This is particularly important because we are now living in the era of climate change, a phenomenon that has created major challenges and problems for our region and the world, and we must prepare ourselves in every possible way to confront these challenges.
Here, I would like to ask the people of Kurdistan to help this program by providing their information, views, suggestions, photographs and natural documents, and to play a role in identifying and documenting Kurdistan’s biodiversity and protecting its nature.
In this national project, researchers’ data, scientific sources and images will be presented through the website biodiversity.krd and a live, intelligent map, so that it can become a shared resource for researchers, academic institutions, education, awareness-raising and planning; a place where image and source owners are identified and shortcomings are also clearly stated.
As a scientific step toward understanding the natural richness of the Kurdistan Region, this special project has been implemented, in which the total number of species recorded to date has reached 2,252 species (including 858 animal species and 1,408 plant species). To complete this major national undertaking and identify the species, a specialized, multidisciplinary team has worked on it, consisting of:
8 members of the regional team
8 researchers
4 photographers
2 writers
Along with the project’s special adviser
What I referred to has focused primarily on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and most of the recorded cases concern the provinces and independent administrations of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. But regardless of politics, wherever the land is considered part of Kurdistan, I hope you will attach importance to it and that the animals and plants found in every inch of Kurdistan’s land will also be recorded—whether in the Kurdistan Region or outside the Kurdistan Region in neighboring countries. I hope attention will be paid to this matter wherever Kurdistan’s land is located and that this information and data will be collected, because this will make it possible to provide more information and data from a scientific perspective and pay greater attention to this important natural wealth, which is valuable to us all.
Another duty is not merely to record these animals and plants, but to protect them. Protecting them is the responsibility of us all: the responsibility of the government, every citizen and every person who cares about the environment and respects nature.
Once again, I thank the employees and all the personnel of this important project and wish you success.
May our Kurdistan prosper, and I hope that all of us will be part of the project to protect Kurdistan’s colorful nature.
Thank you all for your efforts.
