The ESCWA region is facing critical natural resource problems. Climate change, population growth, food insecurity, water scarcity, extreme weather events and regional tensions over shared water resources are challenges that make effective management of natural resources to promote sustainable development imperative. Member countries have shown a growing interest in assessing the impact of climate change, including extreme weather events, and socioeconomic vulnerability.

The objective of the ensuing RFC is to provide technical specifications for the use of Arabic in Internet domain names addressing Arabic-specific linguistic issues. It was first submitted as an Internet Draft to the IETF in February of 2008. Since then, it underwent a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation, revision, and editing process to be converted into an RFC of the informational category. The final version was submitted one year later in February of 2009 and was adopted by the IETF as RFC number 5564.

This report reviews the progress achieved in the implementation of obligations and objectives at the regional level relevant to five clusters, namely agriculture, rural development, land, drought and desertification. It also assesses the challenges and constraints facing the Arab region in the implementation of those objectives and sheds light on possible actions in priority areas for the next stage.