UN Efforts for a Resilient Iraq — Global Issues

Opinion by Ghulam Isaczai (baghdad, iraq)Wednesday, August 28, 2024Inter Press Service

In Iraq, the United Nations Nation Staff (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.

Via the Resident Coordinator’s Workplace (RCO), we goal to leverage the varied experience and sources of various UN companies, fostering a coordinated and built-in method to improvement challenges.

Via this collaborative mannequin, we will maximize our influence and ship holistic options to sort out the interconnected net of things that contribute to local weather change and water shortage.

This contains not solely mitigating the quick results of those environmental threats but additionally addressing their underlying causes, akin to unsustainable water administration practices and overreliance on fossil fuels.

The UN in Iraq has made a long-lasting influence in Iraq via a lot 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, aimed 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 because of lowered rainfall and over-utilization of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These challenges are exacerbated by inefficient water administration and agricultural practices.

Final 12 months, Iraq was the primary nation within the Center East to hitch the UN Water Conference, underscoring the nation’s dedication to boosting regional cooperation and making certain equitable water use, important for the soundness and prosperity of the area.

In alignment with these nationwide targets, the RCO is main a ‘Water Process Power’ that brings collectively UN companies 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 data with fashionable expertise, optimizing water use for agriculture—a vital step for bolstering Iraq’s meals safety.

In the meantime within the Sinjar district, a United Nations Workplace for Mission Companies (UNOPS) initiative, funded by the Italian authorities is remodeling native water entry, in-line with the necessity to making certain secure water for all Iraqis. Equally, in Ninewa Governorate, the UN Kids’s Fund (UNICEF) put in water desalination methods in seven villages, considerably enhancing dwelling circumstances.

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 companies to preserve the marshes by creating 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 timber 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 stability, supported native livelihoods, and bolstered the marshlands’ resilience to environmental pressures, thereby securing their standing as a UNESCO World Heritage Website.

4) Growing renewable power insurance policies

Iraq’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels not solely constrains its financial stability but additionally contributes to substantial greenhouse fuel emissions. The nation has important potential for renewable power improvement however faces challenges in attracting funding and creating crucial infrastructure.

To handle this hole, the UN facilitated the revision and adoption of Iraq’s Renewable Vitality Regulation, a pivotal transfer in the direction of boosting renewable power funding and improvement. The revised Renewable Vitality Regulation has created a extra beneficial surroundings for renewable power funding.

Equally, an initiative by the United Nations Improvement Programme (UNDP) is supporting Iraq’s shift away from oil-dependence, via the NAP – which outlines efforts to scale back emissions and put together for the consequences of local weather change. The UN can also be aiding Iraq develop its NDCs for 2025, which is the nation’s dedication to scale 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 power, selling sustainable financial development 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 Improvement Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2025-2029 will define our efforts to assist Iraq mitigate and adapt to local weather change, handle water sources sustainably, and shield its distinctive environmental and cultural heritage.

As we glance to the long run, 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.

IPS UN Bureau

Observe @IPSNewsUNBureauFollow IPS Information UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal supply: Inter Press Service

The place subsequent?

Hyperlink to this web page out of your web site/weblog

Add the next HTML code to your web page:

<p><a href=”https://www.globalissues.org/information/2024/08/28/37506″>UN Efforts for a Resilient Iraq</a>, <cite>Inter Press Service</cite>, Wednesday, August 28, 2024 (posted by International Points)</p>

… to supply this:

UN Efforts for a Resilient Iraq, Inter Press Service, Wednesday, August 28, 2024 (posted by International Points)