Climate Change Awareness Raising Workshop

Representatives from Ministry of Environment and Directorate of Environment of Kurdistan, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Health and civil society organizations participated in the awareness raising workshop. In the opening session, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment, Dr. Kamran, has stressed on the importance of the UNEP workshop to raise awareness of key stakeholders of the alarming impacts of climate change in Iraq and the need to mobilize efforts and resources to address these impacts. “This workshop is the first in a serious of planned workshops to showcase the serious implications of climate change for the country”. The Deputy Ministry expressed.

Mr. Issa, Director General of the Technical Department, thanked UNEP for supporting this workshop, and he confirmed that Ministry of Environment will continue working closely with UNEP on the campaign targeting other governorates in Iraq to address the impacts of climate change in the country. “Rising temperatures, intense droughts, declining precipitation, desertification, salinization, and the increasing prevalence of dust storms are evident incidents we already started to experience”. Mr. Isaa added.

The training provided presentations on climate risk and early warning systems followed by a presentation on the use of GIS to support adaptation measures. A presentation on the impacts of climate change on health, agriculture, water resources, biodiversity and human settlements was also facilitated. This was followed by hands-on group exercises on identifying extreme weather events and developing climate scenarios and priority actions to increase resilience to climate change. The workshop also included discussions and reflections on the priority sectors most affected by the climate change in the country and the necessity to develop short and medium strategies to address these impacts. It also created space for discussion on current civil society lead climate adaptation initiatives.

UNEP National Officer and a National Consultant in Iraq participated in the preparation of lectures, training and discussions, whether by attendance or through zoom applications.