ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Officials in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region deny that oil exploration has damaged agricultural lands and the livelihood of many villagers, saying that a department has been established to coordinate between oil companies and the public.

The Ministry of Natural Resources said it already has a plan to compensate any farmers that may have suffered from the work of oil companies.

“Our ministry has established a department of social relations which will coordinate between people and the oil companies and it will address any issues that may arise,” said an official from the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier this year, an independent group called the Assembly for the Protection of Environment and Public Rights in the Raniya region submitted an 11-point memorandum to the Kurdish parliament, oil companies and the government, detailing the need to compensate villagers and farmers in the area.

The group threatened to take legal action if the “demands are not met.”

Meanwhile, a new clause in the ministry’s charter passed last May stipulates that people living in oil-rich areas will be compensated through an annual fund.

“The farmers will be paid an annual fee for their land as well as compensation for any agricultural products they have grown on that land in the past,” the ministry official told Rudaw.

He explained that the issue of compensating farmers is complex, “because it is not related to the ministry of natural resources alone; it entails the ministry of agriculture, the governor’s office and other departments.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has formed different committees at provincial levels to oversee the compensation mechanism.

But members of the Environment and Public Rights groups are skeptical of the government plan, calling it unfair.

“They (farmers) must be compensated according to international standards,” read the group’s first statement, refusing a mechanism based on the value of the land or damaged harvest.

“These demands are legal and acceptable,” the ministry official said. He added that the government has urged oil companies to provide employment opportunities for local people.

“Thousands of people work with the companies in those areas already,” he said. “But often, the companies need an experienced labor force that may be hard to find in those areas.”


RUDAW