BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug 28 (IPS) – Local weather change and water shortage pose important threats to Iraq’s stability, prosperity, and the well-being of its individuals. The environmental challenges going through the nation are advanced and interconnected, requiring a complete and coordinated response.
In Iraq, the United Nations Nation Group (UNCT), underneath my management, has been on the forefront of addressing these crucial points, working tirelessly to construct a extra sustainable and resilient future for all Iraqis.
By means of the Resident Coordinator’s Workplace (RCO), we purpose to leverage the varied experience and assets of various UN businesses, fostering a coordinated and built-in method to growth challenges.
By means of this collaborative mannequin, we will maximize our affect and ship holistic options to sort out the interconnected internet of things that contribute to local weather change and water shortage.
This consists of not solely mitigating the instant results of those environmental threats but in addition addressing their underlying causes, comparable to unsustainable water administration practices and overreliance on fossil fuels.
The UN in Iraq has made a long-lasting affect in Iraq via a variety of key initiatives. These embody:
1) Forging local weather resilience
Iraq is very weak to local weather change impacts, together with rising temperatures, droughts, and desertification severely impacting agricultural productiveness and social stability. To handle this, the UNCT, in cooperation with the Iraqi Authorities, organized Iraq’s first Local weather Convention in Basra in 2023. This occasion resulted within the “Basra Declaration” with key authorities commitments and initiatives like an afforestation marketing campaign, geared toward enhancing Iraq’s local weather resilience.
These efforts led to elevated nationwide and worldwide consciousness and cooperation on local weather points, establishing a framework for future environmental and coverage planning, together with the Nationwide Adaptation Plan (NAP) and Nationally Decided Contributions (NDC).
The Basra Declaration goals at strengthening Iraq’s institutional, technical, and monetary capacities to sort out local weather change by mainstreaming medium- to long-term adaptation methods into nationwide and native planning.
2) Advancing water safety
Iraq suffers from a crucial water disaster attributable to decreased rainfall and over-utilization of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These challenges are exacerbated by inefficient water administration and agricultural practices.
Final yr, Iraq was the primary nation within the Center East to affix the UN Water Conference, underscoring the nation’s dedication to boosting regional cooperation and guaranteeing equitable water use, important for the soundness and prosperity of the area.
In alignment with these nationwide targets, the RCO is main a ‘Water Job Power’ that brings collectively UN businesses in Iraq to boost water governance, enhance agricultural resilience, and enhance sustainable water utilization.
As an illustration, the UN Academic, Scientific and Cultural Group (UNESCO) and the Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO) are working collectively to combine conventional information with trendy know-how, optimizing water use for agriculture—a necessary step for bolstering Iraq’s meals safety.
In the meantime within the Sinjar district, a United Nations Workplace for Undertaking Providers (UNOPS) initiative, funded by the Italian authorities is reworking native water entry, in-line with the necessity to guaranteeing secure water for all Iraqis. Equally, in Ninewa Governorate, the UN Youngsters’s Fund (UNICEF) put in water desalination techniques in seven villages, considerably enhancing dwelling situations.
3) Preserving the Mesopotamian Marshes
The Mesopotamian Marshes, a novel ecosystem and a UNESCO World Heritage Website, are threatened by local weather change, air pollution, and unsustainable water administration practices, resulting in extreme ecological and human impacts.
The RCO coordinated efforts throughout UN businesses to preserve the marshes by growing environmental methods, supporting afforestation initiatives and facilitating community-based adaptation plans to enhance the livelihoods of native communities.
For instance, the World Meals Programme (WFP) is enterprise afforestation initiatives in each southern Iraq and the Kurdistan Area, aligning with the federal government goal of planting 5 million bushes by 2029. These efforts are instantly contributing to the nationwide local weather change technique via the Native Adaptation Plan, specializing in areas most impacted by local weather change.
Moreover, the UN has led legislative developments in pure useful resource administration, together with the adoption of the Environmental Technique and the Nationwide Sustainable Land Administration Technique and Motion Plan, that are essential for agriculture and marshland conservation.
These initiatives have helped restore ecological steadiness, supported native livelihoods, and bolstered the marshlands’ resilience to environmental pressures, thereby securing their standing as a UNESCO World Heritage Website.
4) Growing renewable vitality insurance policies
Iraq’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels not solely constrains its financial stability but in addition contributes to substantial greenhouse gasoline emissions. The nation has important potential for renewable vitality growth however faces challenges in attracting funding and growing needed infrastructure.
To handle this hole, the UN facilitated the revision and adoption of Iraq’s Renewable Vitality Legislation, a pivotal transfer in the direction of boosting renewable vitality funding and growth. The revised Renewable Vitality Legislation has created a extra beneficial atmosphere for renewable vitality funding.
Equally, an initiative by the United Nations Growth Programme (UNDP) is supporting Iraq’s shift away from oil-dependence, via the NAP – which outlines efforts to cut back emissions and put together for the consequences of local weather change. The UN can be aiding Iraq develop its NDCs for 2025, which is the nation’s dedication to cut back emissions and adapt to local weather change as a part of the Paris Settlement.
These efforts have opened avenues for elevated funding in renewable vitality, selling sustainable financial progress and decreasing the nation’s carbon footprint.
A sustainable and resilient future for Iraq
The collective work of the UN in Iraq has set the nation on a promising trajectory in the direction of local weather sustainability and resilience. Our upcoming United Nations Sustainable Growth Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2025-2029 will define our efforts to assist Iraq mitigate and adapt to local weather change, handle water assets sustainably, and defend its distinctive environmental and cultural heritage.
As we glance to the longer term, the UN in Iraq stays dedicated to supporting the federal government and folks of Iraq of their pursuit of a sustainable and resilient future.
Ghulam Isaczai is United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq. To be taught extra in regards to the work of the UN in Iraq go to iraq.un.org.
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