The Strategic Framework (coming soon) is intended to present the World Bank MENA Region’s current state of thinking on climate change risks, opportunities and actions for our member countries in the region. It is not a comprehensive, overarching strategy in itself as yet. There are information gaps, which we have done our best to identify. There are still very significant uncertainties not only concerning the nature of expected changes in climate but also concerning the institutional and financing arrangements that will be available at the international level to support mitigation and adaptation measures.
The 2006 Stern Report showed not only that inaction on climate change carries a high cost in terms of impacts later on, but also that the cost of taking early action on mitigation or adaptation is lower overall than is the cost of attempting the same action later, once the impacts are felt more acutely. In light of this, the existence of uncertainty or the absence of perfect information must not be permitted to delay taking action. Accordingly, this framework identifies seven “Opportunities for Climate Action” where work has been identified that will fight climate change and for which no further information is needed. This framework is thus a structured summary of current thinking on climate change as it relates to the Region, which nonetheless acknowledges that more work will always be needed to build better information and provide more certainty where possible.
The document, combined with better information and experience, is an early step on the path that will lead to a more formal MENA climate change strategy in the near future. It proposes an adaptive approach which allows the Bank to help countries to take action now, even in the face of uncertainty and imperfect information, while retaining the flexibility to learn from experience and make adjustments to policy on that basis.
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