Environment and Sustainability

The College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences at the University of Baghdad is deeply rooted in history, with a rich heritage and a strong tradition of scientific achievements. It was established in the 1950s in the Abu Ghraib region with a simple teaching staff, consisting initially of only two departments: the Plant Production Department and the Animal Production Department. At that time, most of its teaching staff were foreigners of various nationalities.

The role of the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences in sustainable development is significant, as the majority of its research revolves around the environment and sustainability. It offers approximately 64 curricula, encompassing more than 100 terms related to the environment and sustainability. The college also organizes exhibitions, seminars, and workshops that serve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, there are volunteer campaigns to support the underprivileged, visits to orphanages, elderly care facilities, and cancer patients.

The college has a platform named “Food and Drug Channel” that is followed by thousands of people. It conducts voluntary campaigns to plant trees in schools, colleges, and universities, as well as campaigns to disinfect the college, university, and school buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The college has a future plan that will be implemented in line with the goals of sustainable development.

Moreover, the technological sittings affiliated with the college play a vital role in serving sustainable development, including projects such as the Million Tree Project, the Mushroom Project, the Stevia Project, and the Medicinal Plants Production Project.

Institutions official climate action or environmental sustainability strategy

Climate change is a global challenge that has no limits and its fight requires coordinated action by all countries. The main cause of climate change is global warming, which has many negative effects on physical, biological and human systems, as well as other effects. Global warming is caused by global warming, a natural process by which the atmosphere retains some of the sun’s heat, allowing the Earth to maintain the conditions necessary to host life. Without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the planet would be -180 degrees Celsius. The problem is that daily human activities amplify the effect of global warming, causing the planet to warm even more. Among the most important causes of global warming is an increase in greenhouse gases, deforestation, destruction of marine ecosystems, and population increase. Experts agree that the industrial revolution was the turning point when greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere began to rise and the industrial revolution itself was caused by revolutions Smaller, agriculture, technology, demographics, transportation, and finance create a new model of production and consumption.

First, it is important to be clear that climate change cannot be avoided, its effects can be mitigated and its consequences can be mitigated, i.e. we can combat it by implementing small and large scale measures that help slow climate change, these actions are known as climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming highlights the climate impacts of the current 1°C global warming as well as the risks and irreversible losses that may occur at 1.5°C. 2°C temperature or more warming. We need political leadership to cut emissions immediately across all sectors of the economy, in order to limit warming to 1.5°C.

Within the international directives and the participation of the world environmental challenges and the importance of planting trees as one of the most successful solutions to limit climate change and within the activities of the project of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Department of Research and Development The project of planting one million trees and the activity of the University of Baghdad College of Agricultural Engineering and the activity of the agricultural division in the university office within 22 universities An Iraqi participant in the project was launched today at the University of Baghdad and under the sponsorship of the university president, Prof. Dr. Munir Hamid Al-Saadi, the first campaign to plant trees and shrubs produced at the university with types of trees and shrubs produced in the nurseries of the Agricultural Division and the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, in addition to a boost to the productivity of the project in the College of Agriculture at the University of Muthanna.

Where a group of seedlings were planted at the site of the dean’s garden and at the entrance to the University of Baghdad as a first step followed by steps that include garden designs by a specialized team from the faculties of architecture and agricultural sciences affiliated to the designs axis in the project to plant a million trees in order to improve the state of Baghdad University gardens and from In order to implement the slogan raised by the project management and according to the directives of our esteemed ministry (Iraqi universities are green spaces and carbon traps to achieve the vision of Iraq 2030 towards a sustainable environment and a green Iraq).Where the Dean of the College, Prof. Kazem Deli Hassan, supervised the effectiveness of afforestation and the participation of the head of the project committee in the college, Prof. Dr. Hassan Ali Abdel Reda, the former Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Prof. Dr. Shaker Al-Attar, the head of the Agricultural Division at the university, and a representative of quality assurance at the university and graduate students in the Department Combating desertification and a group of teachers, in the presence of the representative of the ministry and the project manager, Dr. Afaq Ibrahim Juma.The next step, God willing, will be to plant types of seeds in the nurseries of the Municipality of Baghdad, as part of collective work, in the service of our dear capital.

As for sustainable agriculture and genetic characterization projects

The first project / production of horticultural crops under the hydroponics system using the nutrient solution film NFT axis

• This project aims at the possibility of cultivating and producing horticultural crops under the hydroponic system NFT axis and rationalizing water and fertilizer consumption by reusing the solutions resulting from hydroponics in irrigating cultivated fields and increasing production / m-3 of the nutrient solution

 The second project/ Propagation of potato tubers using Aquaculture water and nutrients

The importance of the potato tubers propagation project

        Recycling the water of aquaculture and using it with the micro-elements in the propagation of virus-free potato tubers, as the aquaculture system is a rich source of nutrients in addition to its content of hormones as well as an environmentally friendly system because it is free of pesticides that cause cancerous diseases as well as saving in the quantities used in watering plants

The third project: the production of leafy plants by adding fish tank water and Champlan extract

The importance of the project:Recycling the water of fish ponds (earth ponds in particular) and exploiting river jungles in the cultivation of vegetable crops, reducing salinization of lands as a result of their disposal, and benefiting from river jungles in fertilizing leafy vegetable crops in particular.

Fourth Project /Using DNA Fingerprinting Techniques to Distinguish Date Palm Varieties

Fifth project /Cultivation of fish with rice in Iraq

The rice field provides a suitable and suitable environment for fish farming and is considered the least risky and low risk method in profit and loss accounts compared to other methods of raising fish such as cages or ponds, as well as the possibility of predicting the quantity of rice and fish crops. The construction cost is very simple and has low cost so the farmer has many options regarding the disposal of the property.

The scarcity of water and the increase in demand for it as a result of the development witnessed by the countries of the world in terms of population growth, high standard of living, limited traditional water sources and imbalance between the available quantities of water and the actual demand for it made many of these countries, including Iraq, tend to search for non-traditional water sources that are used in different ways. economical and highly efficient; To achieve economic and social development in the future, especially since water is a strategic and vital element closely linked to this development. One of these sources is the reuse of treated gray water to increase the available water, get rid of gray water and reduce environmental pollution, which relieves pressure on fresh water.

Gray water is the water coming out of washbasins, bathtubs, bathrooms, washing machines and underground drains. Although these toilets are no longer clean, the rate of pollution is much lower than that of sanitation water. Hence the idea of ​​the research came, as gray water can be treated relatively easily in the same production site, and then re-used as a new water source from non-traditional water sources that can be used to irrigate agricultural crops and plants grown in homes, public gardens, parks, etc., and increase the areas of irrigated lands, food security and protection The environment from pollution caused by gray water if it is disposed of inappropriately. It also works to protect the environment in general from pollution resulting from the overflow of cesspits or their discharge into valleys and public streets, as well as protecting ground and surface water sources.

Processing methods

It is possible to set up treatment units in homes, villages, countryside, gardens, public parks, schools, universities and other civil buildings for the purpose of irrigation. The use of gray water is not limited to irrigating plants. For example, gray water is used in some countries to wash health facilities.

Gray water treatment units aim at the following:

1. Reducing the use of fresh water, which costs the consumer an amount of money, which must be paid in exchange for providing him with water and providing a new water source at a low price.

2. Reducing the cost of the water production unit. Many consumers of water depended on drilling wells, which cost a lot of money.

3. Reducing the expenses of getting rid of gray water polluting the environment, as many small population centers do not have public sewage networks, which makes the people compensate for this by making cesspits, which often have many negatives, especially as they need to be constantly emptied, This is considered expensive to some extent due to the high cost of emptying, and therefore most families leave these pits to fill up and become a health problem for everyone from smells, insects and diseases. As for large cities, there are public sewage networks, but they also suffer from many problems due to the age of these networks that It needs to be checked and maintained periodically. From here, we find that the wastewater has to be disposed of.

4. The use of appropriate treated wastewater helps to dispense with some fertilizers that cost a lot of money, as they contain organic materials and some nutrients needed for crops.

   Carbon dioxide and methane are among the most important greenhouse gases that have witnessed a remarkable increase in 2020, to become the current proportion of carbon dioxide higher than it was during the past 3.6 million years. Methane is emitted to the atmosphere from many sources, such as the use of fossil fuels and the decomposition of organic matter in wetlands and as a by-product of livestock farming. However, some researchers attribute the increase in methane to the biological activities that produce it, such as wetlands and livestock rather than sources Thermal and industrial related to the production and use of oil and gas. Protecting our planet from the changes that have affected it recently is not easy, and reducing emissions requires more solutions that reduce fossil fuel emissions to close to zero.

In this regard, the university has directed the following projects:

Environmentally friendly bio-organic fertilizer production project

The project aims to produce environmentally friendly nitrogen, phosphate and potash fertilizers from animal and plant waste by collecting the university’s plant and animal waste and converting it into organic and bio fertilizer. Educational and training, especially for graduate students, and encouraging them to carry out such projects after graduation. Various species of bacteria and fungi used in the production of bio fertilizers such as Rhizobium, Azotobacter, blue green algae and Mycorrhiza

Among the projects for the production of environmentally friendly organic fertilizers and the treatment of agricultural waste, as it is possible to manufacture organic fertilizers from the residues of the Conocarpus plant and use them in the growth and production of horticultural plants. Good, free from chemical additives that cause a rise in the level of salt in the soil, as well as improving the quality of the agricultural product by reducing the level of nitrates that negatively affect human health and then benefiting from the pruning residues of these trees and limiting the growth of their roots.

the term Renewable Energy expresses the energy that results from natural processes, without human intervention, and is permanently renewed. There are several types in nature, such as sunlight, geothermal energy, wind, sea waves, running water energy or falling from slopes, in addition to biomass energy in its various forms. One of the most important advantages of renewable energy is that it is impermeable and free, in addition to being clean energy. As for the concept of alternative energy, it expresses any energy source that can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels, and it is often non-conventional energy sources that do not affect nature as much as burning fossil fuels.

The following are the most important projects that the university is interested in in this field:

Manufacture and assembly of a pumping unit with a motor that operates with four energy sources used in irrigation

The objective of the project: The study of the operating costs of agricultural equipment and pumps aims to obtain high operating efficiency and productivity at the lowest possible costs. Pumping systems that operate with diesel fuel need to calculate the costs of fuel and maintenance, and with the increase in the load on the diesel engine, the costs of fuel and maintenance increase with it. On the contrary, if Renewable energy systems represented by solar energy and wind energy do not need continuous maintenance, which makes them suitable for remote areas far from electricity supply centers where technicians are not available to maintain and repair diesel engines, and in addition to the above, it is clean and environmentally friendly energy.

And in order not to give the opportunity to farmers’ reluctance to operate the pumping unit in drip irrigation systems or sprinkler systems in desert areas when there is no national electricity or fuel is not available, we find it necessary to think about finding alternatives to energy, which are called renewable energy, and providing arable lands in remote areas and far from sources Electricity, which provides job opportunities and increases local production.

 

The second project: a smart irrigation system using the Internet of Things and solar energy

o This research proposes an intelligent irrigation system using the Internet of Things that can be used to control the irrigation of plants.

o The level of water in the soil is detected by soil moisture using a soil moisture sensor type with measuring humidity and ambient temperature using in order to track early signs of temperature changes. These sensors are connected to a Wi-Fi panel. The collected data is uploaded to the cloud (esp32.com) and viewed by an app or website.

o Notifications are sent to the user constantly to make the system easy to use.

o It relies on the solar energy system as one of the clean and sustainable energy sources. Avoid pollution resulting from the use of diesel pumps or other forms of energy.

o Reducing water waste and preserving water resources from bad use in irrigating plants so that the process is fully automated and intelligently via the Internet.

o The system controls the process of watering plants automatically, reducing the need for human intervention to a large extent.

o The proposed system contributes to saving time, reducing cost, protecting the environment, reducing maintenance and operating costs and effective irrigation service.

The third project is a refrigerated store for preserving fruits and vegetables that operates on solar energy

It aims at the possibility of benefiting from the project to apply the research of postgraduate students, masters and doctorate (for the Agricultural Machinery Department and the rest of the students for other departments), and an educational model for the study of agricultural buildings and renewable energies.

Illustrative image of the proposed project showing the solar cells and the two cold storages (on the right we use a radiator, and on the left a refrigeration device)