Al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue (R.C.D), among the events of RCD Forum 2019 – Baghdad, has held the Climate Change Workshop, which is one of the serious issues in Iraq after ISIS threat. In this regard, the experts participating in this workshop have pointed out to the serious threat of the Turkish “Ilisu” dam to Iraq’s water security, which could lead to serious effects, such as desertification, drought and destruction of farmland.

In this context, the attendees have called for Iraq to engage in dialogue with its neighbors in order to receive its part of water, and that is through diplomatic channels. Moreover, they called, in the same regard, for renting this dam with funds allocated each year to inject the Mosul dam, so that Iraq can control the water quantity coming from that dam.

On the other hand, the attendees in this workshop have called for giving more attention to the private sector that has the ability to develop or build a large-scale system in field of energy and take advantage of the solar power. In addition, the attendees have stressed the importance of implementing the green belt in cooperation with the countries affected by dust storms every year.

Among the important issues discussed in the workshop was the necessity to work for repairing and developing the water supply system and to call for rational use of water, and depend, in agriculture and irrigation, on scientific modern methods. The Iraqi government’s workshop has also invited for collecting quantities of freshwater to prevent the progress of the "salt tongue" in Basra.