The United Nations Development Account Project on Developing the Capacities of the Arab Countries for Climate Change Adaptation by Applying Integrated Water Resources Management Tools project seeks to assist Arab Governments to build their capacity for climate change adaptation by applying integrated water resources management (IWRM) tools. This is sought by increasing understanding of climate change impacts on water resources and associated vulnerabilities to inform climate change adaptation policy-making and by providing a set of regionally appropriate IWRM tools for supporting climate change adaptation in five key sectors (agriculture, economic development, environment, health, and human settlements. The project is led by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP/ROWA), and is implemented in partnership with the Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the World Health Organization Centre for Environmental Health Activities (WHO/CEHA).

A training manual consisting of five complementary modules, each focused on one of the key sectors was prepared by the respective organizations. This workshop aims to present and test the draft module on agriculture that was prepared by ACSAD in collaboration with GIZ and ESCWA. This training module main objective is to enhance capacity of Arab Governments to incorporate IWRM tools into agricultural strategies, policies and plans in order to adapt to climate change. This is done through investigating climate change impacts on agricultural sector, in particular, water availability for irrigation, crop productivity, food production, forestry, fisheries, pasture management and livestock. Adaptation measures and options for the sector as well as areas for action at the national and regional levels are included in the module and will be discussed during the workshop.