Iraq is set to host the country’s first international forum which will focus on climate change, future challenges and solutions, bringing together local and international experts.
The one-day event, titled the Climate Change International Forum, is expected to take place at the Grand Theatre of Mosul University.
According to Omar Mohammed, founder of Mosul Eye, a leading non-government group that organised the forum, “It will discuss the climate change in Iraq as a whole with a focus on finding solutions through collaboration between local and international entities”.
He explained that the forum will provide them with an opportunity to explore the green economy, innovation and more creative and sustainable solutions, adding that his hometown Mosul will be “at the centre of this as a city with challenges but also unexplored resources, especially water.
Read also: Leicester charity moves to tackle climate change
While Mosul is still recovering from the three-year reign of ISIS and the war to claw back the city from the militants, it is still facing a wide range of challenges, from post-war reconstruction to climate change threats.
Recall that after ISIS overran the city in 2014, Mosul Eye became known internationally as a defiant, anonymous online site, providing a glimpse of life inside the city under the militants’ occupation.
Mohammed had launched the Green Mosul initiative to plant trees in different areas in and around Mosul, including a forest inside the city last years, with more than 9,000 trees already planted.
“The initiative played an instrumental part in promoting urban greening as a means towards post-war stabilisation and raising awareness about climate change,” Mohammed said.
Local authorities, community leaders, activists, students and professors, as well as diplomats, international NGOs and experts are expected to attend the forum. The participants will also reflect on what has been achieved so far and discuss concrete solutions to current and coming climate-related challenges.
In his reaction, Iraq’s Ministry of Environment, Dr Jassim Abdul Aziz al-Falahi said that the war-ravaged country remains the fifth most vulnerable country in the world impacted by climate change.
He maintained that the country yet faces a wide range of challenges made worse by water insecurity, mismanagement and man-made problems such as the illegal clearing of agricultural areas to build houses.
“More frequent and intense droughts, sandstorms, heatwaves and rising sea levels are wreaking havoc on people’s livelihoods and communities,” he said.
Story was adapted from the National News.
