Iraq/Kurdistan: Last Chance for the Persian Leopard: The Fight to Save Iraqi Kurdistan’s Forests

Jun 20, 2020 | Wil Crisp, Guardian
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Between 1999 and 2018, almost half of Iraqi Kurdistan’s forests – more than 890,000 hectares (2.2m acres) – were destroyed, mostly by logging and forest fires, according to surveys carried out by the United Nations and the Kurdistan regional government (KRG). At the same time, the once-common Persian leopard’s global adult population is estimated to have been reduced to between 800 and 1,200.