University of Kerbala
Dr.Furat Abdulridha Jawad
college of Islamic sciences
INTRODUCTION
Sustainability has become a requirement rather than a mere objective, which is currently a universal priority for governments and private organizations to achieve and work towards it. As a keystone in enveloping the global future for the economic, social, and ecological compasses, sustainability has become indispensable in the pursuit of changing the lives of current and future generations. The importance of sustainability engagement in its three dimensions is widely presented in the literature (social, environmental, and economic). Environmentally, increased human and industrial impact on the surrounding ecosystems has resulted in environmental changes, which have developed into one of the most significant issues in this era. Hence, sustainability has emerged as a critical factor in achieving environmental balance [1]
Worldwide private and government sectors progressively recognize the gravity of introducing sustainable practices into their policies and operations as it entails a coordinated balance between human development and environmental preservation. Sustainability brings about responsibility for resource management, lowering environmental impact, and civilizing social equality, and also endorses the fact that world resources have limits and are connected.
Practicing sustainability ensures that present and future needs are met without compromise, which requires progression towards minimizing pollution, conservation practices, changeover to clean energy, and instigating economic inclusivity. Like many other nations, Iraq faces uncommon challenges, encompassing water scarcity, incompetent waste management, environmental degeneration, and many more, which seed health risks and obstruct social advancement, demanding sustainable solutions, critical planning, and synergetic attempts from government and private sectors for a flourishing future.
The other compelling issue in Iraq is the country relying on fossil fuels for energy production and consumption, which contributes mainly to environmental deterioration and climate change. At the same time, education is another crucial domain that demands scrutiny for advancing individuals, communities, or nations. This essay will discuss the measures governments and private sectors took to promote sustainability and provide examples of crucial issues in Iraq that require advancement, along with probable solutions.
The Crucial Role of Sustainability in Iraq
Iraq, a nation with prosperous history and disparate cultural heritage, currently faces many challenges that have impaired its growth momentum for decades, and it is undeniable that the solution lies in sustainability, as it broadens above the environmental concerns to encircle economic gain, social inclusivity, and abiding stability. So, contributing extensive structure refers to discrete issues and facilitates Iraq towards being fortunate and resilient.
Government and Private Sector Initiatives
The global government and private sectors have embarked upon numerous dynamic measures and initiatives for sustainability. One noteworthy moment is the Paris Agreement, a global resolution to fray climate change. Signatory nations have perpetrated on reducing greenhouse gasses, reinforcing resilience to climate effects, and private sectors have accepted sustainability through responsible sourcing, green technologies, and energy-conserving practices.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations, sets forth a thorough framework for attaining sustainable development goals. This agenda emphasizes the interconnectedness of economic, social, and political pillars, highlighting the need for an integrated approach to progress across multiple goals. Governments have committed to ending poverty, reducing inequality, and addressing climate change by 2030 [2]
1. Economic Stability and resilience
As of a known update in September 2021, Iraq faced compelling challenges in achieving economic stability and resilience due to an amalgam of factors, corruption, political volatility, security proceedings, infrastructure frailty, youth unemployment and dependence on oil exports. [3]
Iraq is heavily dependent on oil exports for its revenue, which made its economy vulnerable to global fluctuations in oil prices, leaving the country exposed to market volatility and making it difficult to attain any long-term economic instability. The lack of robust security measures, especially in the armed forces, has hindered its foreign investments, infrastructure development, and business environment stability, affecting its economic growth. Frequent changes in ongoing government leadership and political uncertainties, ineffective governance of funds and resources from public services or developing projects indicating corruption have created an unsettling economic planning and policy-making environment.
With years of negligence, infrastructure desperately needs investment and reconstruction, including energy, transportation, water supply, and telecommunications, hampering economic growth. A remarkable level of persistent unemployment led to social anxiety and economic displeasure, which is seen beyond the lack of jobs other than in the oil industry. Moreover, regional tensions and geopolitical variables have also been rooted in economic instability. Its location in an erratic region can highly impact trade, energy, and overall economic outlook.
Sustainable practices can relieve Iraq’s economy from oil dependency and increase its economic diversity by boosting tourism, agriculture, renewable energy usage and other sectors as sources of income. Encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI), balancing the need for reconstruction, and promoting green technologies can insulate Iraq’s economy from external impacts. It will reinforce economic resilience and imbue job creation and innovation. [4]
Environmental Restoration:
Years of negligence and conflicts, Iraq’s ecosystems have been significantly impacted. Decades of war, shortage, and fossil fuel extractions have ruptured countries’ ecosystems, communities, and people. The ineffectual lands and resources forced people to migrate to urban areas for jobs, indicating a future as “emigration.”
Over the last two decades, Iraq has experienced a consistent decline in its rainfall, accompanied by elevated temperatures. This combination of factors has given rise to some of the most severe drought conditions in the country’s recorded history. These conditions have led to decreased yields of crucial crops like wheat and barley. Despite being a significant global oil producer, Iraq still depends on Iranian oil and gas imports, as well as diesel generators, to fulfill its expanding energy demands.
Additionally, Iraq burns around $3.8 billion worth of gas each year through flaring, a practice that is both economically and environmentally unsustainable. The climate risks faced by Iraq are having profound effects on its stability and prosperity. The ongoing scarcity of water and the increasing temperatures are exerting mounting pressure on essential resources and diminishing opportunities for livelihoods in formerly prosperous sectors, such as agriculture.
Sustainable initiatives by the government in affiliation with private sectors need to work on reforestation, rehabilitating marshlands, restoring, and safeguarding vital ecosystems, restoring measures of biodiversity, alleviating the impacts of global warming and climate changes, and measures on controlled oil production. All these are for contributing to and preserving ecosystems and making life sources for the community.[5]
Water Scarcity and management
Tigris and Euphrates rivers as the primary source of water in Iraq, they have a source in Turkey, and it has been convicted that the Ankara government is withholding water in dams, leading to a drastic drop in water levels.[6] Sustainable water management strategies involving potent irrigation strategies, efficient desalination techniques, following modern agricultural practices and necessarily collaborative agreements with neighboring nations can provide quick solutions.
Waste management
Iraq produces 30000 tons of solid waste daily and needs management methods without affecting the environment or causing health issues; their central solution currently is dumping waste into unregulated landfills. Moreover, if the Iraqi government commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, these practices of “dumping waste” into uncontrolled landfills will end up costing them a high price, because most of the dumping grounds are close to residential areas or watercourses. So, the government has taken the initiative as a part of peer to peer component of UNDP’s Supporting Recovery and Stability in Iraq through the Local Development program, funded by the European Union; two waste management projects are being implemented in Nineveh and Thiqar as a partnership between the European peer: PIN Prato of Prato Italy and the local authorities in both governorates, to handle solid wastes.[7] The Italian peers have supplied “equipment such as electromechanical composter, waste collection truck, bins … in addition to the training of municipality’s operators on how to operate the machinery and maintain it”. [7] It is the hope that in time, governing bodies will assume control of the initiative, overseeing both the collection and composting phases, and managing the entire process autonomously. Furthermore, involving the private sector in waste collection, recycling, and promoting sustainable waste disposal practices is important to the success of the project, and with the government supporting the private sector in adopting eco-friendly packaging and waste reduction methods this involvement will have a huge impact on the initiative.
Investing in Renewable Energy
Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortfall despite substantial hydrocarbon reserves, the world’s 5th largest crude oil producer and the 12th most significant natural gas reserves. Iraq depends mostly on fossil fuels for 80% of its electricity generation, and despite all these resources, the country’s performance seems suboptimal. [8]
However, with the advantage of vast solar resources, Iraq can produce sustainable energy for generations. In collaboration with private sectors and international partners, the government should invest in solar power projects to diversify energy resources and reduce the usage of fossil fuels. It should also encourage Private organizations to associate by contributing incentives like tax breaks and advantageous frameworks to vitalize investments in solar energy projects.
Education and Awareness
The United Nations declared 2005-2014 as the decade of education for sustainable development, and it has become essential and discussed ever since. Educating sustainability is a holistic approach to creating a better world for current and future generations to live and flourish. This allows every child to attain the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and value necessary to architect a sustainable future. Informative educational programs and awareness camps are fundamentals to foster a sustainability culture. So, government and private sectors can back initiatives to teach individuals about resource usage, environmental conservation, waste reduction, water management and many more sustainable practices.
Infrastructure resilience
Changing climate can intimidate economic growth and affect people with low incomes inordinately, living in vulnerable areas with minimal resources to adapt to changing climatic scenarios. Solutions state that infrastructure investment is the foundation for economic development and growth. By incorporating green building practices and disaster-resilient designs, Iraq can defy future challenges and ensure better living conditions.
Investment in infrastructure is at an all-time high globally. Thus, an ever-increasing number of decisions are being made now that will lock in development patterns for future generations. Although, for the most part, these investments are motivated by the desire to increase economic productivity and employment, we find that infrastructure either directly or indirectly influences the attainment all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 72% of the targets. [9]
Policy Frameworks
Formulating extensive sustainability policies which address economic, social, and environmental features. Government should make a practice to incentivize sustainable customs and investments, promoting ratification of renewable energy sources, sustainable agriculture, and waste management practices.
Sustainable development is an approach to decision-making that takes long-term focus, incorporating social, environmental, and economic factors and recognizing the interdependence of domestic and global activities for making long and better policies.[10] For example, to attain car-free transportation, policymakers can appeal to employers to incentivize people to encourage commuting by public transport. Moreover, for infrastructure, they can also suggest cycling lanes; combined, these ideas have great potential to decrease pollution and increase sustainable infrastructure.
Private sectors and governments can collaborate with NGOs and academia to implement integrated solutions. These partnerships lead to abundant sharing of knowledge, ideas, resources, and sustainable expertise in initiatives. They can also invest in research and development practices to revolutionize ideas and practices.
Conclusion
Sustainability is critical to Iraq’s potential and finding solutions for its most compelling challenges. All sectors worldwide are increasingly watchful of sustainable practices and their results and started to incorporate these into their policies and practices. Evolution to a sustainable path involves synergistic efforts from the government, private sectors, civil society, and international units for implementing policies and initiatives that foster sustainable development, reduce the ecological footprint, and improve the quality of life for all Iraqis. This collaborative approach will lay the foundation for a brighter future, where Iraq thrives sustainably and leaves a legacy of positive change for generations to come and can rewrite its narrative, emerging as a nation that not only overcame adversity but also laid the foundations for enduring progress and well-being for its people and future generations. Embracing sustainability is now not just a choice but a necessity for the well-being of the planet and all its inhabitants.
References
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United nations environment programm [UNEP], & Alwash, A. (2021, January). Back to life: environmental management of the Iraqi marshlands.UNEP. https://www.csis.org/analysis/restoring-iraqs-marshes
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Iraq needs renewables, but they won’t solve its power problems without broader reforms. (2023, February). Middle East Institute Publications. https://mei.edu/publications/iraq-needs-renewables-they-wont-solve-its-power-problems-without-broader-reforms
Thacker, S., Adshead, D., Fay, M. et al. Infrastructure for sustainable development. Nat Sustain 2, 324–331 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0256-8
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