"A political crisis has left Iraq without a functional government and unable to act on worsening climate change impacts"

"BEIRUT - Thousands of years ago, the fertile lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers may have been the site of the Garden of Eden. Today, climate change is making Iraq more inhospitable by the year.

But even as tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue swell the nation's coffers, an extended political deadlock has left the country with no working government and little hope for meaningful action on climate adaptation, political analysts say.

"The political crisis is adding a layer of complexity to the climate crisis in the country," said Zeinab Shuker, an Iraqi sociology professor at Sam Houston State University in the U.S. state of Texas.

"The worst-case scenario is what is happening right now," added Shuker, who writes about the political economy of Iraq."

Nazih Osseiran reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation September 16, 2022. [2]