BF

 

The Basra Forum (BF) for Climate, Environment and Security, fosters dialogue and collaboration among Iraqi civil society, governmental institutions, non-governmental organisations, academia, and other relevant actors working in the fields of climate change, environmental degradation and security. The network was first established in 2020 and was formally announced in May 2022. The Planetary Security Initiative (PSI) helps to establish the forum in international diplomatic circles and among decision-makers on local and regional levels.

The BF aims to raise awareness and catalyze action on climate change impacts. The forum addresses issues such as water and food insecurity, which have a severe impact on livelihoods and security in the region. The dialogue fostered by the BF especially tackles phenomena that affect southern Iraq, which include water shortages and pollution, saltwater intrusion, and desertification.

In 2021, the first-ever climate-security dialogue was held in Basra. Organized in a hybrid format, the Arabic language event addressed climate change impacts on the stability of southern Iraq, with special attention to the protests and clashes following the 2018 water crisis. A full recording of the event is available online.

As a local network, membership of the BF is open to all parties, organisations, and actors with a headquarter in Iraq that would like to participate in open and closed roundtable discussions, workshops, and publications.
International organisations and donors with a record of meaningful local contributions on the topic of climate security can become associated with the forum.

For more information on the Basra Forum for Climate, Environment and Security (BF) and the work of PSI in Iraq, please contact Sarah Lokenberg, Junior Research Fellow at PSI and the Clingendael Institute, at slokenberg@clingendael.org

For general information on PSI work, please reach out to Louise van Schaik, PSI Coordinator and Senior Research Fellow at lschaik@clingendael.org.   

           

 

Read the information on the Basra Forum for Climate, Environment and Security in Arabic. 

 

Current members are: