CURRENT PROJECT
Climate-focused mediation and peacebuilding in Iraq
This project focuses on climate-focused mediation and peacebuilding in different districts throughout Iraq.
Timeframe: June 2022 - December 2026
According to UNEP, Iraq is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change worldwide. Iraq’s vulnerability is mainly shaped by its high exposure to floods, droughts and dust storms (increasingly linked to temperature and precipitation variability), its natural resource dependency, and its low adaptive capacity. The impacts of climate change manifest differently in Iraq’s various climate zones and increasingly contribute to tensions, not only between different tribes and communities, but also between various Iraqi provinces. Iraq’s capacities to respond to the impacts of climate change is weakened by years of political and armed conflict within the country.
The project aims to strengthen Iraqi capacities to respond to climate risks and their impact on existing conflict dynamics. Building on the potential of climate concerns as an entry point for peacebuilding and mediation efforts, the project activities seek to integrate climate security risks into existing peacebuilding efforts. The project includes a mapping and climate-conflict analysis process as a key component to better understand the expected impact of climate change on conflict dynamics and as a way to initiate consultation, exchange and inclusive dialogue among Iraqi stakeholders.
Background
With this project, the Berghof Foundation is part of the Climate, Peace and Security Consortium (CPSC) / the Weathering Risk Peace Pillar. This initiative is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and aims to systematically implement and assess the impact of climate-security informed peace programming. The Weathering Risk Peace Pillar translates the analytical component of the initiative into peacemaking and peacebuilding action in the field. The consortium comprises adelphi, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), the European Institute of Peace (EIP) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), and the Berghof Foundation.
Partners and Funding
Our Iraqi partner is Peace Paradigms Organization (PPO). The project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The Weathering Risk Peace Pillar translates climate-security foresight and analysis into peacebuilding action where it is needed most.
Evidence shows that peace processes can benefit from integrating a climate lens:
Exchange and learning between different regions and contexts can help practitioners and policy makers arrive at better solutions to address these risks:
Partners work across the globe to engage local actors and ensure projects are context specific, informed by a bottom-up approach and locally owned:
Watch the recording of our event "Addressing climate security challenges in Iraq" that we co-hosted with Peace Paradigms Org. (PPO) in Erbil, Iraq.
Learn more about how the Peace Pillar is integrating climate-security risk analysis into peacebuilding efforts.
Updates from this work:
Project lead
Nike Löble
Project Manager
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Team members
Nanor Bitar
Sonja Neuweiler
Christian Gülisch
Kathrin Buddendieck
Hilal Akrami
Media contact
You can reach the press team at:
+49 (0) 177 7052758
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