“I believe that Iraq is facing a lot of man-made disasters which have also impacted the environment, like the remnants of war and conflict, in addition to the issues of serious lack of water resources and droughts also the extreme weather temperatures which can cause several health issues among the population,” Mirna Abu Ata, representative of the UNDRR to the Baghdad International Water Conference told Rudaw English.
“We are starting to work with the government of Iraq on putting forward a national strategy for disaster reduction and conduct the profiling,” said Abu Ata, adding that Iraq lacks a proper country disaster risk profile to verify available data regarding the climate-related dangers facing the country.
The UNDRR country disaster risk profile “provides a comprehensive view of hazard, risk, and uncertainties for floods and droughts in a changing climate,” according to the agency’s website.
Iraq is among the nations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity. The United Nations Environment Program has warned that water shortages threaten the long-term stability of Iraq’s agriculture and industry.
Abu Ata said that while UNDRR’s “main focal point is the Ministry of Environment in Baghdad,” through the federal government the agency “could expand the work” to the Kurdistan Region as well.
Water scarcity is one of the main challenges Iraq faces today. The World Resources Institute places it among 25 countries in the world that face extreme water stress, meaning that it uses over 80 percent of its available supply of water and is at risk of running out of water in case of any short-term drought.
Water reserves have decreased by half since 2022 due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining river levels, according to the water ministry. The devastating effects of climate change are exacerbated by the Turkish and Iranian damming of rivers that flow into Iraq.
The Iraqi capital is hosting a three-day conference with the participation of hundreds of government officials, academics, and international and local civil society organizations to discuss the pressing issues of climate change, agriculture, and water management.
At the conference, Iraq’s water ministry signed several Memoranda of Understanding for joint cooperation with its Tunisian counterpart and the World Food Program (WFP), as well as launching a multimillion-dollar project to revive the marshlands in Basra province.
