Areen Barzani has placed climate action, youth engagement, and community resilience at the center of his public work through the Kurdistan Foundation, an organization focused on employment, volunteering, sustainability, and youth development.
Launched in Erbil in late 2024, the Foundation brings together initiatives including JobsKRD, VolunteerKRD, ClimateKRD, and Youth Hub, with the goal of supporting practical, community-led responses to regional challenges. Its work comes at a time when the Kurdistan Region faces serious environmental pressures, including deforestation, water stress, and rising temperatures.
A Community-Focused Climate Agenda
Through ClimateKRD, Barzani’s environmental work centers on reforestation, climate awareness, and sustainable development. Tree planting has become one of the Foundation’s most visible priorities, reflecting a broader push to protect the region’s natural landscape and encourage public participation in environmental care.
The need is significant. The Kurdistan Region is home to around 90 percent of Iraq’s forests, but reports show that the region has lost nearly half of its forest cover over the past several decades. Between 1957 and 2015, more than 600,000 hectares of forest were lost, while about 290,000 hectares were lost to fires over a recent 14-year period.
Barzani has framed tree planting as both an environmental and civic responsibility. In a TEDx talk, he described trees as essential to human life, biodiversity, and the long-term health of Kurdistan’s communities.
Youth as a Driver of Environmental Resilience
The Foundation’s climate work is closely tied to youth empowerment. Iraq has a young population, with nearly 60 percent under the age of 25, creating both pressure on employment systems and an opportunity to engage a new generation in civic and environmental work.
VolunteerKRD is designed to connect individuals with volunteer opportunities across Kurdistan, while JobsKRD focuses on employment pathways, internships, and entrepreneurship support. The Kurdistan Foundation describes these programs as part of a wider effort to build community participation and expand opportunity for young people.
Local Action With Global Relevance
Kurdistan’s environmental concerns reflect wider climate challenges facing Iraq and the region. Water scarcity, desertification, forest loss, and extreme heat are increasingly shaping public health, agriculture, and urban planning. Reforestation and environmental education cannot solve these issues alone, but they can help build public awareness and local capacity.
The Foundation’s model emphasizes cooperation with local communities and international partners. By connecting climate action with youth training, volunteering, and employment, Barzani’s work presents environmental protection not only as a policy issue but as a social movement.
For Barzani, the long-term goal is to help build a greener and more resilient Kurdistan through practical action. “This is just the beginning,” he said at the Foundation’s launch. “Our priority is to solve the environmental crisis, but our vision is to build a stronger Kurdistan, which is a homeland to all.”
