Erbil, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi President Barham Salih has cancelled his planned trip to the United Nations Twenty-Sixth Global Climate Summit in Glasgow, an official told Rudaw English on Tuesday.
Jassim al-Falahi, the deputy minister of health and environment and head of environment policy for the Iraqi government since 2015, confirmed that President Salih will no longer be attending the conference, known as COP 26.
An informed source in Baghdad believed that the President's decision is due to negotiations around forming a new government following last month's elections. Instability caused by political protests, ongoing threat of terrorism and the sectarian-nature of Iraqi politics takes priority.
News of the leader’s cancellation comes after it was announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also decided to skip the global climate conference of significance, with Turkish media attributing his decision to the UK’s failure to meet Turkey’s security demands.
On Tuesday, 105 global leaders from countries including Turkey agreed to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030, pledging to strengthen their shared efforts to conserve forests and other ecosystems.
President Salih was scheduled to lead the Iraqi delegation, which also featured the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, and Falahi. Iraq has not signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use, committing to protect the country’s forest ecosystems.
Iraq was particularly hit by the implications of global warming this year, with a combination of lack of rain and reduced access to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers impacting communities across Iraq who rely on the two main rivers for their livelihoods - a situation which threatens the displacement of tens of thousands of Iraqis.
This summer, authorities in the Kurdistan Region warned of a water crisis, with aid agencies predicting that over 12 million people across Iraq and Syria risk losing access to water, food, and electricity as a direct consequence.
In a sign of the polarising weather effects increased by climate change, the first heavy rain and storms of the year struck parts of the Kurdistan Region on Saturday, causing significant damage to neighborhoods in Erbil and surrounding areas, affecting around 150-200 houses.
Due to drought and a lack of rainfall, water-short dams across the Kurdistan region have seen dramatic reductions in their levels of electricity production.
As the global summit gets underway, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is calling for urgent action to address water scarcity in Iraq.
The climate crisis is a child rights crisis which poses an “unprecedented threat to the development, survival, and potential of all children and young people, everywhere in Iraq”, said UNICEF, urging the federal and regional governments of Iraq to increase investment in both climate adaptation and resilience.
“Children and young people will face the full devastating consequences of the climate crisis and water insecurity, yet they are the least responsible. We have a duty to all young people and future generations,” the agency added.
According to UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index, released in August, Iraq is among the top fifty countries most vulnerable to water shortages, with children and young people at a “medium-high climate risk in Iraq.”
Last week, Falahi told Rudaw that action to tackle climate change was urgently required, and called on the international community to support the country’s efforts to transition to a more sustainable economy.
President Salih, an outspoken advocate for climate action, warned in a piece for the Financial Times on Sunday that “the potential economic and environmental impact of climate change is by far the most serious long-term threat facing the country.”
UNICEF has called on the Iraqi authorities to improve critical services such as water, sanitation and hygiene systems, health and education services, and to provide children and young people with the necessary education and skills to prepare them for the effects of climate change.
The COP 26 conference will last for two weeks, and attendees will work towards agreeing global targets for reducing carbon emissions.
