Facing Iraqs Climate Catastrophe

Published: July 11, 2023, 5:37 a.m.

In a miserable twist for the people who live there, Iraq has become a front-line test lab for the extreme effects of climate change. A combination of forces, accelerated by bad human decisions, has dramatically degraded Iraq\u2019s environment. And Iraq\u2019s experience is a harbinger of what\u2019s coming to the rest of the world.\xa0\nOn this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Century International fellow Zeinab Shuker explores the unhappy mix of factors that has made Iraq so inhospitable.\nZeinab is leading \u201cLiving the Climate Emergency: Lessons from Iraq,\u201d a new Century International project exploring how policymakers and researchers can draw on the case of Iraq and its neighbors to translate into action the growing consensus that the climate crisis is already here.\xa0\nCentury\u2019s Climate Emergency Project will connect field researchers, policymakers, and a wider audience through roundtables, public events, podcasts, and reports. Future research in this project will place today\u2019s crisis in a historical context; map the contours and human impact of climate change in Iraq and its neighborhood; and finally, drawing on the lessons of the extreme case in Iraq, make projections about the future and propose solutions.\xa0\nRead:\xa0\n\u201cThe Deep Roots of Iraq\u2019s Climate Crisis,\u201d Century International report by , Zeinab Shuker\n\u201cIraq Is Overheating. How Can It Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change?,\u201d Century International commentary by Zeinab Shuker\nExplore:\nProject homepage, \u201cLiving the Climate Emergency: Lessons from Iraq\u201d\nParticipants:\nZeinab Shuker, fellow, Century International\nThanassis Cambanis, director, Century International