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 seeks to assist Arab States to build their capacity for climate change adaptation by applying integrated water resources management (IWRM) tools. This is sought by: (a) increasing understanding of climate change impacts on water resources and associated vulnerabilities to inform climate change adaptation policy-making; (b) 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); and (c) enhancing knowledge of associated best practices in each of the five sectors that may be drawn upon to support the preparation of national and sector based adaptation and development plans. The project is led by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme 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 was agreed to during the inception meeting of the project that was held on 24 November 2013 in Amman. This regional workshop aims to present and test the draft module on the environment that was prepared by UNEP/ROWA in collaboration with ESCWA. The training module aims to build the capacity of Arab officials on the use of IWRM and ecosystem-based management (EBM) tools for climate change adaptation. This is done by drawing upon regional climate change assessment tools and demonstrating methods for considering and responding to the effect of projected climate change impacts on water-related ecosystem and biodiversity. The valuation of ecosystem services will also be introduces as a way for informing climate change adaptation in the Arab region. Adaptation measures and options related to the environment sector as well as areas for action at the national and regional levels are included in the module.