Kurdistan (Iraq)

The Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Kurdistan Regional Government (Iraqi), signed, on July 20th , 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding for the cooperation in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development.

The Ministry for the Environment will offer a financial support to the projects and activities that will be identified in the Work Plan to be adopted in the coming months by the Joint Committee. The amount of the loan will be defined at a later stage.

As part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the MOU identifies areas of cooperation relating in particular to:

• collection, analysis and monitoring of data on climate change and the effects it generates on agriculture and food security;
• preparation of a weather alert system and risk management related to extreme weather events;
• identification of actions for mitigation and adaptation to climate change;
• management of water resources.

On these issues, specific training activities are planned to strengthen skills, to give technical assistance and exchange of experts. Organization of workshops and dedicated seminars are also planned in order to encourage the involvement of the private sector and cooperation between universities and research centers in the two countries.