Environmental challenges, particularly dust-related issues, are worsening year by year, with this year proving to be the most challenging yet. Over the past two months, hardly a week has passed without several days of persistent dust storms.

It's important to recognize that environmental issues encompass more than just dust though. Water-related problems represent a significant challenge in Iraq. According to scientific reports and research, the water crisis has the potential to trigger conflicts, instability, and threaten coexistence.

Regrettably, the environment has yet to emerge as a prominent policy issue. None of the Iraqi political parties have prioritized this matter as even their second or third concern. In the past seven months, political parties have set various conditions during negotiations to form a new Iraqi government. Yet, none have made solving environmental problems a condition, despite the substantial hardships it imposes on the people of Iraq and Kurdistan.

We cannot afford to remain indifferent to this critical issue any longer. Therefore, I urge the leadership of the PUK to take a proactive stance and officially make the environmental problem, alongside other legitimate demands such as the budget, salaries, Peshmerga, and compensation for families of martyrs and Anfal victims, a voting condition for the new cabinet.

If the next government fails to commit to devising a scientifically sound plan to address the environmental crisis and allocate the necessary annual budget, the PUK faction should not support the cabinet.

I call upon activists, Iraqi and Kurdish civil society organizations, and the media to place more focus on this matter and intensify their pressure on political parties. It's crucial to make the resolution of environmental problems a primary objective of political work and governance.

The time has come for us in the Presidency of the Kurdistan Regional Council of Ministers to give greater attention to environmental issues. Political power and authorities may come and go, but the nation and its people endure. Our land and environment are resources for future generations, and we must not bequeath a ravaged environment as our legacy to those who come after us.