First Middle East Climate Week opens opportunities to address regional climate change drivers

Second event

The  second event, also held on 30 March, was entitled “Fortering Peace through Sustainable Water Future.” The session was co-convened by UNDP, SIWI and IFAD under Track 2: Integrated Approaches for Climate Resilient Development.

The objective of this session was to highlight the critical importance of considering climate security and the fragile contexts in which climate actions take place in the MENA region.

Currently, national determined contributions (NDCs) submitted under the Paris Agreement do not consider the conflicts or broader regional security aspects that may influence – and be influenced – by a country’s actions to address climate change.

Furthermore, water security is largely considered as a siloed approach under adaptation commitments in the NDCs. However, except for a for a small share of countries who commit to mitigation through actions on wastewater, water considerations did not figure into the formulation of mitigation commitments such as energy or agriculture – two sectors which consume an immense amount of water.

The session highlighted the importance of integrated approaches to climate action, water, peace and human security through a panel discussion comprising representatives from countries, international organizations and academia. The event increased awareness about these issues specifically in relation to financing, policy as well as governance and data capacities specifically in relation to operating in fragile or conflict contexts.

Financing

• Heavy lifting needs to be done by World Bank, other banks to identify priority investments such as irrigation.  community management structures to decide on allocation of water. Providing more finance to developing countries including grants and highly concessional loans due to the risks that usually do not encourage private sector investment.
• Decentralized solutions are lacking – IFIs tend to focus on centralized solutions. Local interventions can help shift perceptions in a community.
• Regional mismatch of MDB offer of finance and financing needs for adaptation. Most of 70% of MDB finance focuses on mitigation. But countries need mainly finance for adaptation.

Policy

• There is a gap in understanding multi-dimension risks and stressors that hinder building adaptive capacity to climate change.  So far, cross-sectoral cooperation for multi-dimensional risks is reactive and crisis-driven. There is a sharp reduction in institutional capacities to build adaptive capacities due to conflicts and displacement.
• Fragility and climate security contexts will be consideration in future UNFCCC COPs. Egypt COP27 will focus on adaptation and Africa with a climate security lens. Will build understanding with different actors about desired outcomes, easier access to finance, compliance mechanism for cooperation, cross-sectoral integration of strategies. Working with banks and financing institutions is key. COP28 to focus on climate security as well.
• Humanitarian agencies such as the Red Cross can make critical contributions to informing adaptation in fragile or conflict contexts. Too often, short-term humanitarian solutions are not addressing adaption. Red Cross pro-actively releases resources as soon as crises are predicted – and so can reach 2x as many people as during a crises.

Governance and Data Capacities

• We are late in assessing groundwater in the region – we need to change the governance and monitoring systems for groundwater to be able to manage it. In MENA, climate change has major impact on groundwater resources as drought and water shortage periods prolong. Linking policies and scientific research is very important for sustainable groundwater management, which can help bridge water demand during drought periods.
• Better data and regional action plans can enhance regional cooperation on transboundary water management. 60% of the water in MENA comes from outside the region National NDCs need to be bridged for regional resilience issues.
• It is important that decision-making is not merely a political or economic decision, but that the scientific point of view is included in order to promote long-term sustainability. Science and data are important for collaboration – peace actors to think about environmental aspects, lack of sustainability, lack of environmental data when access is not allowed. Environmental peace-building builds trust.

Operating in fragile or conflict-contexts

• In Yemen, Sustainable Fund for Development (SFD) is accepted by all parties in the country, is neutral and the only development vehicle operating in this difficult conflict setting. Food and water security should be the starting point, as without them there are no climate adaptation and no peace.