The Center for Research and the Natural History Museum at the University of Baghdad organized an event to celebrate the International Day for Geological Diversity under the theme “One Earth, Many Stories.” The event featured a lecture by Professor Dr. Aqeel Abbas Al-Zubaidi from Al-Karkh University of Science and was attended by a group of faculty members and staff from the center.
The event included educational posters highlighting the significance of this international day, which promotes the protection of nature and the environment both globally and within Iraq. It also featured an informative lecture on the importance of such initiatives and the need to sustain efforts in fields that support sustainable development and biological and geological diversity.
The event aimed to clarify how elements of geological diversity intersect with the daily needs of human life, including water, transportation fuels, and minerals. It emphasized that key materials used in the production of smartphones—such as rare earth metals, plastics, and glass—as well as renewable energy technologies like wind turbines (steel) and solar panels (silicon), are all derived from geological resources.
Researchers recommended careful selection of activities in this field, noting that UNESCO-endorsed initiatives may include field trips to geological or archaeological sites, volunteer efforts to clean nearby geological locations, academic conferences, seminars, and workshops at universities, lectures at primary, middle, and secondary schools, visits to construction sites, parks, or rivers, and public discussions and forums.
This activity contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 17, which advocates for partnerships to achieve the goals.
