Al-Sudani: More than 7 million Iraqi citizens have been affected by drought, and we will call for a regional climate conference in Baghdad

Today, Sunday, the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani, announced that more than 7 million Iraqi citizens have been affected by drought, pointing out that he will call for a regional climate conference in Baghdad.

And his media office stated, in a statement received by Al-Ghadeer, that “Al-Sudani opened today the Iraq Climate Conference, which is being hosted by Basra, with international, regional and governmental participation.”

Al-Sudani stressed, in a speech he delivered during the opening of the conference: “We announce the opening of the Iraq Climate Conference, to establish a new phase to confront the severe effects of climate changes on Iraq, and that the climate changes that were represented by high temperatures, scarcity of rain, and an increase in dust storms, with a decrease in green spaces, It threatened food, health, environmental and community security.”

He added, “More than 7 million citizens have been affected, their areas have suffered from drought, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, losing their livelihoods that depend on agriculture and hunting, and the most unfortunate thing is the severe drought that afflicted our beautiful marshes.”

Al-Sudani continued, “The national priority to limit climate change was represented by providing the nationally specified contribution to reducing emissions, preparing national strategies for environment, biodiversity and pollution control,” stressing “work on preparing Iraq’s vision for climate action until the year 2030.”

And he continued: “We directed the holding of this conference to represent a promising start in environmental and climate action commensurate with the size of the challenges we face. The government has sought, within its government program, to give priority to confronting the effects of climate change through a number of projects that contribute to reducing emissions.”

He pointed out that “the projects include the establishment of renewable energy stations, the rehabilitation of closed sanitary landfill sites, projects to combat desertification, irrigation techniques that regulate water, and heavy water treatments,” adding: “We recently signed contracts for the fifth licensing round to invest associated gas and stop its burning in order to reduce carbon emissions by rates.” big”.

He stressed, “The proceeding with the signing of contracts to establish power plants from renewable sources, to cover a third of our electricity needs by the year 2030,” noting: “The Ministerial Economic Council will set a time frame for implementing projects of biodiversity and pollution control strategies, and the national contribution document to reduce emissions.”

He pointed out, “The directive is to expand the national initiative to reduce emissions to include various sectors, and the package of projects to reduce traffic in Baghdad is one of the solutions to reduce emissions.”

Al-Sudani announced: “The launch of a major initiative for afforestation, which includes planting 5 million trees and palm trees throughout the governorates of Iraq, accompanied by the launch of a national guide for urban afforestation for the first time in Iraq,” adding: “We launched a natural cover development project with the aim of combating desertification through important contracts with international companies.” Specialized, especially in areas where dust storms originate locally.

He pointed out, “Basra Governorate has priority in implementing these projects due to its critical environmental situation. Taking care of Basra’s environment is the criterion for the government’s seriousness in dealing with the file of environmental impacts, and the Council of Ministers will allocate periodic sessions to follow up on the implementation of Iraq’s climate agenda and the implementation of environmental projects.

The Prime Minister called on friendly countries and all United Nations organizations to “support us in facing the effects of climate change,” calling on the states parties to international environmental agreements to “strengthen the provisions of international cooperation in the joint management of transboundary river basins, and to preserve the rights of the riparian countries.”

And he indicated that “unilateral control of water in the upstream countries increases the vulnerability of countries in facing the effects of climate change,” adding: “We will call for a regional conference to be held in Baghdad soon, to enhance cooperation and joint coordination, and exchange experiences and programs between the countries of the region in facing climate effects.”

He concluded by saying: “I thank all parties that contributed to the preparation of this conference, and special thanks to the United Nations Mission in Iraq, which participated in the preparation.”