Money and moderately good governance make climate-change adaptation easier

Farmers are not the only people who need to adapt to the changing climate of southern Iraq. The summer temperatures make air conditioning ever more vital, but it is neither universally affordable nor reliable. War, corruption and mismanagement have left Iraq’s grid unable to keep up with summer demand; during the prolonged spells of extreme heat this summer, Basra suffered frequent power outages. Some Basrawis were able to keep the a/c running with diesel generators; others drove around in their cars simply for the sake of the air conditioning. The rest, including those who had no a/c in the first place, just had to put up with the heat. It will undoubtedly have killed some older and frailer residents, but the city does not compile records of such things.