UK, Canada, UN allocate $6.8 million to fight climate change in Iraq

Dilan Sirwan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canada and the UK on Wednesday launched a $6.8 million project in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Iraqi government to combat climate change in Iraq.

The British and Canadian governments along with the UNDP launched the three-year Catalytic Climate Action in Iraq project, which is “designed to accelerate climate action in Iraq” through a fund set at $6.8 million, according to a press release by the UN program. 

“Activities are targeted at gaps that can deliver systemic change within Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Region of Iraq to help deliver their climate ambitions under the Paris Agreement,” a joint press release read. 

The UK embassy in Iraq on Wednesday said that climate change is the “biggest long term threat Iraq faces.”

Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity. The effects of climate change are surfacing at an alarming rate in the country, with Iranian and Turkish damming of the country's rivers exacerbating the phenomenon.

Iraqi President Barham Salih earlier this month said that addressing climate change is a "national priority", calling it an "existential threat to the country's future.” 

To address the threats posed by climate change, Salih referred to Mesopotamia Revitalization Project launched by the presidency last year. It aims to take preventative and positive measures such as planting trees, promoting clean and renewable energy generation as well as improved water management in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Declining water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates coupled with water evaporation in dams and outdated, inefficient irrigation methods are drastically degrading the country's water resources, the president continued. He expects the country's water deficit to hit 10.8 billion cubic meters by 2035, citing a study by Iraq's water resources ministry.

The Canadian ambassador to Iraq on Wednesday also said that “the Transboundary Water Management Project Canada is supporting aims to strengthen Iraq’s capacity to negotiate an equitable share of the waters of the Tigris & Euphrates rivers.” 

A senior advisor at the Iraqi water resources ministry warned in April that the country's water reserves have halved since last year, due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining water levels.

In his own statement to mark World Environment Day earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on governments to “urgently to prioritize climate action and environmental protection through policy decisions that promote sustainable progress,” adding that the world can “no longer ignore the alarm bells that ring louder every day.”