“We are working on having better data on the Kurdistan Region. The data about the whole of Iraq says that it is really in danger - fifth among other countries,” Bayan Sami Abdulrahman, senior advisor to PM Barzani for foreign affairs and climate change, told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai.
The Middle East is heating up almost twice as fast as the global average and Iraq is considered one of the world’s nations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, suffering with scorching temperatures, dwindling water resources, and desertification.
“We have formed a high-level committee at the Council of Ministers responsible for supervising everything related to climate change. We plan to do very broad and detailed research on weather in Kurdistan and set a long-term strategy for Kurdistan,” Abdulrahman said.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and PM Barzani are attending the United Nations climate change conference in Dubai, leading two separate delegations. They have held several meetings with world leaders. The conference runs through December 12 and brings together world leaders, businesses, NGOs, and civil society activists.
Abdulrahman said this is the first time both Kurdish leaders attend a COP summit together.
“This is very important and an achievement for Kurdistan, especially at a time when we pay a lot of attention to climate change,” she noted.
The KRG cannot fight global warming without international support, Abdulrahman said, calling on Baghdad to be “cooperative” to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid is also in Dubai and in a speech at the conference called for greater cooperation between neighbours.
The countries around the Gulf “are on the front lines to confront the effects of climate change,” he said, noting that this region will see temperatures rise even if the world meets its goal to limit global warming to less than two degrees as set out in the Paris climate agreement.
“We are - starting now - suffering from high temperatures, dust storms, and water scarcity. And all of these changes do not recognize the borders of countries,” he said.
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