Iraqis marked International Volunteer Day on Tuesday with campaigns to clean up communities and nurture a greener environment.
Armed with gloves, brooms, rubbish bags and saplings, Baghdad residents joined forces to transform the banks of the Tigris river, which snakes through the capital.
“I think it’s a good time to serve my country,” biologist Shireen Ali, 30, told The National after sweeping the steps leading to the riverbank in the city's Azamiyah district.
“You will not get money when you volunteer to do something but in the end you will do something for your country,” Ms Ali said, wearing a white glove and holding a broom.
“Stop complaining that this is not clean, this is not painted and there are no trees in the streets: you take one day off from your work and come and do something, and enjoy,” she added.
The UN hailed global efforts on this year's International Volunteer Day, the theme of which is “The power of collective action: if everyone did.”
“On this important day, let’s recommit to ensuring that all people can lend their energies to shaping a better future for all people and the planet we share,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
“Let’s stand with volunteers, everywhere,” he added.
Baghdad is plagued by poor municipal services, inadequate waste disposal and high levels of pollution. Rubbish and waste piles are common sights in some areas of the city, especially the riverbanks.
Volunteer groups have been cleaning up the city, including in a campaign last year focusing on the banks of the Tigris.
Ahmed Al Khazali, 30, has been volunteering for 10 years, leading up to 70 volunteers in three neighbourhoods in eastern Baghdad.
“We want to send a message to all citizens to take responsibility and serve the country amid this negligence,” Mr Al Khazali said.
His team helps poor families, and organises clean-up projects and workshops.
“The country needs a lot. If we unite and co-operate to serve it we will make a change,” the business college student added.
Decades of war, UN-imposed sanctions, political and security instability and mismanagement have pushed pollution in Iraq to worrying levels.
The country is plagued by oil pollution, discharges of untreated waste into waterways and even nuclear and dioxin contamination.
It is also classified by the UN as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to climate change.
Its severe water crisis has been gradually worsening for decades, negatively affected by climate change, mismanagement and pollution.
Iraq’s two main water sources, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which account for more than 90 per cent of the country’s reserves, have significantly declined over the years.
Construction of dams and diversion of water upstream in Turkey and Iran has exacerbated the crisis.
Desertification affects 39 per cent of the country and 54 per cent of its agricultural land has been degraded, mainly due to soil salinity caused by historically low water levels in the two rivers, reduced rainfall and the rise in sea levels.
