Report entitled “Climate Change Adaptation in the Arab States: Best Practices and Lessons Learned” has been published by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and GEF (Global Environment Facility) in July 2018.
The purpose of this publication is to detail lessons learned from UNDP’s Climate Change Adaptation work and achievements in the Arab region on achieving sustainable and lasting results. Some lessons include building local capacity at all levels to ensure a project’s long-term viability, decentralizing infrastructure management, implicating community-based organizations, and promoting resilience of vulnerable populations through livelihood diversification. Providing populations with access to adapted financial services such as Weather Index Insurances (WII) linked with microfinance services was found to support rural populations to become more resilient to climate induced damages. The immediate objective of this publication is not only to share experiences with a wider audience, but also to inform future CCA programming. The publication furthermore acts as a call to action to facilitate a long-term coordinated approach to increasing the resilience of countries most vulnerable to climate change in the region.