Climate action in earth’s most water-stressed region
APRIL 6, 2022, 09:30 PDT, CORVALLIS, OREGON, USA
Last week, 28 - 31 March, the first ever Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week in Dubai saw officials and regional representatives make an urgent call to accelerate climate action with the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
MENA Climate Week was hosted by the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO) and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), in collaboration with the UN and other multilateral organizations. Around 4,000 people attended in person, including around 500 speakers from 147 countries.
The MENA region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average. Many of the impacts of climate change center around water — from flash floods, saltwater intrusion and coastal erosion — to drought, extreme heat and locust invasions. Water challenges are not new to the MENA region, which is home to 12 of the 17 most water stressed countries in the world.
MENA Climate Week 2022 provided a platform for leaders, officials and regional representatives from governments, cities, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society organizations to discuss opportunities to drive forward climate action and showcase solutions in the region, ahead of COP27.
Water, food, and energy are at the core of the climate conversation in the MENA region, with a real emphasis on adaptation. The challenges faced by decision-makers who must manage the trade-offs between water, food, and energy security are intensifying. Throughout the week there were at least a dozen sessions on water and food security, and sessions on the energy transition, with the spotlight on solar.
The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) and the Adaptation Action Coalition hosted the event “From falaj to tahlia al-miah: Water management for climate resilience in the Middle East & North Africa”, which included an all female panel of technical experts working in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine. The event also highlighted the ongoing progress of the Water Tracker for National Climate Planning which is supporting governments worldwide to assess how water is addressed in their national climate plans, with the aim of building water resilience and ensuring the success of climate actions.
Ingrid Timboe, Policy Director at AGWA, said “There is no region in the world that more clearly exemplifies the centrality of water in both mitigating and adapting to climate change than the MENA region.
Ensuring a resilient future for communities from Rabat to Muscat will necessitate a transformation in the way that water is managed, from sectoral silos to a systematic, whole of government approach.”
Tools like the Water Tracker for National Climate Planning “are designed with this transformation in mind,” Timboe said.
MENA Climate Week showed that there are strong, highly motivated technical specialists — in particular young professionals — working on the ground to address these interlinked issues of water, food, and energy.
“The youth of this region — over two-thirds of the MENA population is under 35 years old — are ready and willing to take on this challenge and we are excited to work with them to bring about a climate-resilient future for all,” Timboe said.
MENA Climate Week signaled a strong commitment in the region to addressing the intertwined challenges of water and climate change.
Egypt has demonstrated leadership in this area and was one of the first countries to adopt the Water Tracker for National Climate Planning. Egypt will continue to be at the center of water and climate this year, hosting Cairo Water Week from 16 to 19 October 2022 which will act as a stepping stone to COP27, taking place from 7 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt.
Momentum from MENA Climate Week will feed into subsequent Regional Climate Weeks throughout the year as countries continue to recognize the importance of accelerated, coordinated climate action.