Rwanga plants 20,000 olive trees in Erbil green push

Shafaq News/ The Rwanga Foundation announced on Sunday the completion of a major environmental project involving the planting of 20,000 drought-resistant Spanish olive trees in the Dilopa area of Kasnazan, near Erbil, as part of its “Green Kurdistan” campaign.

Led by Idris Nechirvan Barzani, President and Founder of Rwanga, the launch ceremony drew high-level attendance, including Fawzi Hariri, Chief of Staff of the Kurdistan Region Presidency, Agriculture Minister Begard Talabani, representatives of GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation), international diplomats, and local NGOs.

The project spans 55 donums of land and is expected to yield 400 tons of olives and 120 tons of olive oil annually, while producing an estimated 5 million liters of oxygen per day, significantly improving air quality in the region.

Rwanga said the initiative also created 255 permanent and seasonal jobs, with priority given to women, youth, and people with disabilities.

Funded in coordination with GIZ and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and supported by the Kurdistan Regional Government, the project aims to combat desertification, restore degraded land, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Since its launch in 2023, the Kasnazan Olive Orchard has become the cornerstone of Rwanga’s broader reforestation efforts, which have planted over 200,000 trees across the Kurdistan Region since 2020.

Rwanga emphasized that this model of climate-smart agriculture and community-driven sustainability offers a replicable strategy for balancing environmental recovery with economic and social development in the face of intensifying climate challenges.