Iraq’s NAP

In 2020, the Government of Iraq started the process of developing a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to help build the country’s resilience to climate change.

The National Adaptation Plan is expected to identify, assess and bridge existing gaps in climate knowledge, and carry out climate risk assessments to identify the livelihoods and sectors most threatened by climate impacts, as well as the most urgent adaptation priorities. The NAP planning process provides an opportunity to ensure that migration, displacement and planned relocation are fully addressed, as both potential challenges and potential opportunities. Human mobility is an important consideration for the NAP since there is a need to avoid displacement or migration that erodes human welfare, and also a need to understand how to capitalise on the potential for migration where it functions as a viable adaptive strategy.

It also established the Permanent National Committee on Climate Change and the National Climate Change Center. Funded by the Green Climate Fund, the NAP will be developed and implemented as part of a three-year project with a particular focus on strengthening institutional, technical and financial capacities. The project will help to identify areas for resource mobilization, analyse gaps in institutional capacity, and suggest ways to address capacity gaps, and build awareness about the NAP with stakeholders within and outside Iraq.