The Climate crisis, its impact on the population and political instability in Iraq

Iraq is one of the countries that finds itself the most threatened by climate change, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report, published on April 4, 2022. This is an obvious fact that has been highlighted by current events: the senior advisor to the Ministry of Water Resources, Aoun Dhiab, announced on Thursday April 21, that Iraqi water reserves have halved compared to 2021 while according to the World bank, the country can lose up to 20% of its water resources in a permanent way by 2050; seven sand storms have hit the country since the beginning of April; for the first time, Sawa lake, with a surface of 5Km2, south of Iraq, has entirely disappeared ; in 2020, Niniveh has produced around 1 million tons of wheat which is 10 times less than it had produced in 2021 ; one in two Iraqi families living in zones affected by droughts is threatened by food insecurity, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) report published in December 2021. Facing the urgency of this situation, the CFRI and its associate researcher Bertille Domalain wish through this research paper, to delve into this topic and analyse its causes and consequences.

6th May 2022