Water Governance and Climate-Smart Agriculture from the Iraq Case: Resilience Challenges for the Global South

Introduction

On the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, water resources are diminishing at an unprecedented rate. Iraq—the cradle of this ancient civilization—now faces severe food security challenges, with approximately 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Drought, desertification, rising temperatures, and declining river flows are eroding the foundations of agriculture, shrinking arable land, and exacerbating rural poverty. Recently, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in partnership with the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and with funding from Global Affairs Canada, launched the MURUNA project (meaning "resilience" in Arabic), aiming to build a defense line for vulnerable communities in Iraq by strengthening water governance and promoting climate-smart agriculture.

This case is not only a local response in Iraq but also a typical experiment at the intersection of climate and development in the Global South. It reveals the deep connections between water governance, agricultural innovation, and international cooperation, and provides a practical reference for ESG investment and sustainable development financing.

Water Governance: A Paradigm Shift from "Supply" to "Management"

For a long time, developing countries have focused on engineering-based supply (e.g., building reservoirs, irrigation canals) for water resources. However, the MURUNA project demonstrates a new governance logic: combining technical solutions with institutional design. The project supports water planning and decision-making processes at the national level, while collaborating with water user associations to develop water use plans and improve water infrastructure. This "top-down + bottom-up" hybrid model aims to promote equitable and efficient water allocation and strengthen local participation, with particular emphasis on the role of women.

From a governance perspective, water rights allocation mechanisms, conflict resolution frameworks, and data transparency are the institutional cornerstones for enhancing resilience. Iraq's experience shows that water investments lacking governance capacity are often unsustainable. Meanwhile, intensifying climate change is forcing countries to shift from "water crisis management" to "water risk prevention."

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Transforming Science into Field Solutions

Another core component of the MURUNA project is promoting climate-smart agriculture. ICBA, as a strategic partner, will provide expertise in areas such as saline agriculture, screening of salt-tolerant crops, and water-saving technologies. These technologies are not novel inventions but practical methods proven effective in arid and semi-arid regions—for example, drip irrigation, mulching, and the use of salt-tolerant wheat varieties.

The key lies in transforming research findings into affordable and acceptable operational procedures for farmers. ICBA's positioning is precisely "translating research into practical solutions." This application-oriented agricultural innovation echoes the "climate-smart agriculture" framework advocated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): sustainably increasing productivity, adapting to climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while ensuring food security.

A New Form of International Cooperation: From Donor to PartnerThe funding support from Global Affairs Canada, the implementation capacity of WFP, and the technical expertise of ICBA form a complete development cooperation chain. Notably, this project is not a simple "aid-implementation" model but a multi-stakeholder collaboration focused on systemic resilience building. This reflects the mainstream trend in international development finance: shifting from project-based aid to capacity-building, emphasizing local ownership and long-term sustainability.

After 2025, the global development system is undergoing restructuring. Traditional bilateral aid growth is slowing, while channels such as climate finance, South-South cooperation, and multilateral funds (e.g., the Green Climate Fund) are becoming increasingly active. In a middle-income, post-conflict country like Iraq, humanitarian food aid alone cannot eradicate vulnerability; investments must be directed toward "structural solutions" such as water governance, agricultural transformation, and climate adaptation.

Long-term Resilience from an ESG Perspective

From an ESG perspective, the MURUNA project has quantifiable contributions across the environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) dimensions. Environmentally, water-saving irrigation and salt-tolerant crops help mitigate land degradation and water consumption; socially, water user associations and women's participation improve community empowerment; in governance, it supports national water planning and multi-level coordination mechanisms.

For ESG investors, water risk is an increasingly important financial factor. For example, CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) has included water security in its corporate rating system. Although the project in Iraq is limited in scale, its model—integrating public governance, community action, and technological innovation—provides a replicable framework for water management in agricultural supply chains.

Challenges to Long-term Sustainability

However, every development project faces the question: "What happens after the exit?" Is MURUNA only three or five years? When the project ends, will local institutions and water user associations have the capacity to continue operations? Can the scale-up of climate-smart agricultural technologies expand from pilots to the national level? There are no ready answers to these questions, but they warrant attention.

The development community repeatedly emphasizes that resilience is not a one-time endpoint but a process of continuous adaptation and learning. Iraq needs stable institutional capacity, sustained investment, and cross-sectoral policy coordination. The international community should maintain long-term engagement and avoid interrupting support due to political or security fluctuations.

Conclusion

Iraq's MURUNA project is a microcosm of the global South's response to the dual pressures of climate and development. It reminds us that water governance must advance in tandem with agricultural transformation, community participation, and institutional capacity building; international cooperation should go beyond short-term relief and shift toward systemic resilience investment. For countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, and Yemen facing similar challenges, this case offers lessons: democratizing water governance, localizing scientific knowledge, and leveraging development finance instruments are the viable pathways to long-term food security and climate resilience.