Climate Finance File - Loss and Damage Fund as an Example

2023-12-19

Ramadhan Hamza Mohammed

Water Strategy and Policy Expert

While Iraq has been ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, this is the basis on which Iraq can rely as a golden opportunity to benefit from any future financing support for the damage caused by climate change in Iraq, Iraq should have a methodology in dealing positively with the environment, by adhering to a comprehensive and locally successful national environmental policy within the controls and instructions, especially after the decision to activate the "Loss and Damage" Fund for the countries most affected by climate change, at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention (COP28), which was held in Dubai earlier this month, taking advantage of other funds, such as the "Financing Fund" announced by the UAE worth $ 30 billion to contribute to finding climate solutions at the regional and global levels to fill local financing gaps and can obtain financing according to the country's plans and how to contribute effectively to reduce nationally determined emissions (NDC), as a government commitment under the Paris Agreement. The damage caused by the effects of the climate crisis includes wide sectors, including the water resources, agriculture and food sector, to support the implementation of measures to address losses and damages and reduce their damage, and to develop modern technologies such as early warning systems and start new practices in rationalizing the consumption of water resources and reducing pollution rates.

Because with the advent of 2024, water crises are exacerbated by natural causes due to climate change, dry seasons and human causes because upstream countries have put water at the top of their political agenda, and this requires all of us to work together to change this reality. Because water crises take many forms and forms, including the agricultural sector, which is responsible for more than (70%) of water withdrawals and consumption, and therefore is a key tool for change in building resilience in the field of water uses and at the level of all other sectors.

Therefore, it has become necessary for the water file to be at the top of the governmental and societal agenda, especially in Iraq, which suffers more than others from environmental injustice related to climate change and the lack of safe and reliable water, due to Turkey and Iran's control of Iraq's water shares in the Tigris and Euphrates basins to sustain the agricultural sector, drinking water supply, and other sectors, and here requires designing a cooperative approach to lead to appropriate, viable and culturally feasible solutions, enhanced with tools to support the political decision of the state so that we can achieve progress in Changing the future of water in Iraq. The next few years will be critical to Iraq's water future, requiring serious work in accelerating water resilience strategies.

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