Geographical Analysis of the Effect of Population Characteristics on the Growth of Medicinal Plants within Nineveh Governorate

Abstract

  The research dealt with an investigation of the human factors affecting the growth of medicinal plants in Nineveh Governorate, which occupies an area estimated at (37323) km2, thus constituting (8.6%) of the total. The area of ​​Iraq is (435, 052 km2), with an estimated population of (3,926,340) with a percentage of (60.6% urban - 39.4% rural) in 2022 A.D., as the population community is characterized by a dynamic and mobile nature that is subject to increase or decrease in population numbers, especially the terrorist events (the entry of ISIS) that the governorate witnessed in (2014), which greatly affected the movement of the population, as Nineveh Governorate witnessed a large forced mass displacement movement that can be classified into three categories, which are:

1. External spatial movement amounting to (305,437) people and a percentage of (30%).
2. Internal spatial movement to the Iraqi governorates, including (418,215) displaced persons and a percentage of (41.6%).
3. Local spatial movement within the administrative units in Nineveh Governorate, amounting to (276,549) people and a percentage of (27.2%).

In addition, it is worthy to take into consideration the migration movement outside Iraq, which was at the level of Iraq in general, and among the population of working age, the number of migrants from Iraq in 2013 A.D. reached (321,604) people. The population increase or decrease has contributed to the damage to natural wild plants on the one hand, in light of urban expansion at the expense of agricultural and wild lands, in addition to overgrazing, which consequently increases the grazing load in natural (permanent) pastures in a way that exceeds their grazing capacity and energy in each season when temperatures decrease or increase, which leads to creating a state of imbalance in the natural vegetation cover that protects the surface of the earth. However, we do not overlook the positive role played by the concerned authorities in attempts to enrich the herbarium department affiliated with the Nineveh Agriculture Directorate, and the national herbarium, as well as the efforts made by the College of Agriculture and Forestry - University of Mosul in its attempt to establish student campaigns to plant forests that have been affected by years of fires and destruction, and to establish a nursery for medicinal plants within the university campus, and its academic and scientific efforts to develop specialized studies in medicinal plants and their therapeutic effects.