Iraq is among the Middle East’s most climate-vulnerable countries, experiencing prolonged droughts, extreme heatwaves, dust storms, water scarcity, and seawater intrusion. These risks disproportionately affect southern governorates (Basrah, Qadissiyah, Thi-Qar), where smallholder farmers heavily depend on irrigated agriculture. Climate change will exacerbate the region's food insecurity, poverty, and instability without urgent intervention.

This project will enable smallholder farmers and vulnerable households in southern Iraq to withstand climate shocks better and secure their livelihoods. It introduces efficient irrigation and water harvesting techniques, including drip systems, solar-powered pumps, and rooftop rainwater harvesting to address severe water scarcity. Farmers will diversify into stress-tolerant crops and vegetables while adopting climate-smart practices such as greenhouse tunnels, which extend the growing season and reduce exposure to extreme heat and salinity. Livelihood diversification will be promoted by supporting kitchen gardens, small-scale agro-processing, and other value chain opportunities, particularly targeting women and youth. These interventions will increase household income, enhance food security, and reduce migration pressures from rural communities.

The project will also strengthen the enabling environment for climate adaptation by improving the capacity of local institutions and service providers. Climate information services and decision-support tools will be upgraded to provide timely and actionable advice, and extension agents and government staff will receive specialised training in water management, climate-smart agriculture and resilience planning to ensure technical knowledge is accessible and available at the local level. Finally, knowledge exchange platforms will be established to capture lessons learned and facilitate replication of successful practices across other vulnerable regions of Iraq, contributing to long-term resilience building.