Within the framework of the Regional Initiative for the Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Socio-Economic Vulnerability in the Arab Region (RICCAR), the eleven RICCAR implementing partner organizations organized the “High Level Conference on Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation in the Arab Region” from 26 to 28 September 2017 at the Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace Hotel in Beirut, Lebanon.

This conference served as the closing meeting of the Adaptation to Climate Change in Water Sector in the MENA Region (ACCWaM) project.

The conference also launched the RICCAR Arab Climate Change Assessment Report as well as a series of technical outputs and training materials on regional climate modelling, hydrological modelling, vulnerability assessment and climate change adaptation in the Arab region. It included discussion and exchange on region-specific case studies focused on green sectors, extreme climate events, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation across various sectors. The conference also shared joint work conducted with Arab States on the establishment of an Arab Climate Outlook Forum, the development of a regional knowledge hub and support for climate data rescue.

RICCAR is implemented through a collaborative partnership involving 11 implementing partner organizations, namely the League of Arab States, ESCWA, the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmBH (GIZ), the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Cairo Office, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In addition to the resources provided by the partner agencies, funding is provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which financially supports RICCAR through the Adaptation to Climate Change in the Water Sector in the MENA Region (ACCWaM) project.