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Iraq joins UN climate loss and damage committee
Shafaq News/ On Wednesday, Iraq was elected to the executive committee of the UN's Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.
Youssef Mueed Youssef, director of the Climate Change Directorate at Iraq's Environment Ministry, was appointed during the ongoing SB62 climate meetings in Bonn, Germany, according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat.
The committee oversees global coordination on climate-induced loss and damage, including the Santiago Network and the recently established Loss and Damage Fund.
Iraq's Environment Ministry described the membership as a diplomatic achievement, given the country's acute vulnerability to climate impacts such as desertification, declining water flows, and rising temperatures.
The United Nations has consistently ranked Iraq among the five countries most at risk from climate change. In its 2022 report, the World Bank urged the government to adopt a low-carbon development strategy, diversify the economy, and invest in climate resilience.
The same report estimated Iraq would need $233B in climate-aligned investments by 2040—equivalent to 6% of its annual GDP—to address pressing development and environmental challenges.
More recently, the Strategic Center for Human Rights reported that Iraq has lost nearly 30% of its productive agricultural land over the past three decades due to climate-related degradation.
