Iraq 'green belt' front line in anti-desertification fight

Agence France-Presse: Karbala, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baghdad, is best known as the site of the shrines of Imam Hussein and Abbas, who are among the most revered figures in Shiite Islam, and sees millions of pilgrims visit every year. But it is also the location of a six-year-old project aimed at fighting worsening desertification in Iraq: a "green belt", or a 27-kilometre crescent lined with thousands of young trees in orderly patterns, irrigated by dozens of wells. The area had been used as a military...

URL: http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/article5326756.ece
Enclosure: http://www.timeslive.co.za/incoming/2012/06/11/karbala.jpg/ALTERNATES/crop_630x400/Karbala.jpg