Pakistan, Dec. 28 -- In southern Iraq, authorities are covering sand dunes with layers of moist clay to curb increasingly frequent and severe sandstorms driven by climate change and rising temperatures.

The project, focused between Nasiriyah and Samawah, also involves planting heat-tolerant seedlings such as Prosopis and Conocarpus to stabilise the soil and reduce the spread of dust across cities and highways.

Iraq now faces an estimated 243 sandstorms annually, with projections suggesting this could rise to 300 "dust days" by 2050 unless aggressive mitigation strategies are implemented. Authorities aim to shield roads where visibility issues have caused traffic accidents.

UN-Habitat and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development a...