ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A young man digs a pickaxe into the ground, kicking off a campaign to plant thousands of trees in the oil-famed city of Kirkuk.

KOKAR, a local volunteering organization, launched the city-wide tree planting drive, funded by Kirkuk’s businessmen, companies and civilians, on Saturday.

“In this campaign, more than 1,508 volunteers from all the neighborhoods of Kirkuk are participating. The campaign covers 36 neighborhoods of Kirkuk city and 6 small and big towns [in the province],” Ismael Majid, director of KOKAR, told Rudaw.

Over 11,000 trees are set to be planted, added Majid.

A province marked by the flaming gas of its ample oil fields, Kirkuk suffers sorely from a lack of greenery. KOKAR estimates that just 1 percent of the province is made up of green space.

Planting is being done in two ways. The trees are either planted by the volunteers, spread across the city’s neighborhoods, or given to the city’s residents to plant for themselves.

“We have been notifying households for about a week now. They dig a hole, and then we take the tree to them,” volunteer Sara Mohammed told Rudaw.

Tree planting is a way for them to express their love for their city, she added.

Kirkuk residents have backed the campaign, saying they are ready to invest long-term care into trees planted in their neighborhoods.

“We will attend to it like we attend to our own eyes. This tree is not only for a person or two, but for the environment and for the people. It adds green space to the neighborhood, to the city,” Kirkuk resident Wasta Abulqader told Rudaw.

For some residents of Kirkuk, tree planting has always been important. Falah Hassan, owner of a shop in Kirkuk’s Rahimawa Bazar, says he has single handedly planted and tended to 37 trees near his home and his shop.

“We as humans are responsible for polluting the environment. For both our human need and for more oxygen, we should plant trees. Every human has the duty to plant trees,” Hassan said.

Rudaw