Climate Change in the Middle East and North Africa

The World Bank is committed to assist developing countries in their efforts to address the climate challenge through a variety of analytical tools and of financial services including the Climate Investment Fund.

This web site contains information on main activities undertaken or planned by the World Bank to address climate change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), both in terms of enhancing country resilience to climate change impacts and of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Adaptation. Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is one of the regions that is most vulnerable to climate change, on accounts of the highest level of water scarcity in the world, a significant dependence on climate-sensitive agriculture, the concentration of populations and economic activity in flood-prone urban coastal zones, and the presence of conflict-ridden areas in which climate induced resource scarcity could escalate violence and political turmoil even beyond the region's boundaries. Because of this vulnerability to the impacts of Climate Change, the World Bank has funded studies and projects focusing on developing localized climate scenarios for the MENA region, climate vulnerability assessment in Djibouti, integrated ecosystem management in Jordan, climate change impacts on water and agriculture in Morocco and Yemen and adaptation to climate change using agro-biodiversity resources in the rain fed highlands of Yemen.

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Click here for additional useful maps on climate change in MENA

Mitigation. While MENA's overall share of the greenhouse gases emissions causing climate change is low (4.5%), the region has the second largest volume of emissions per unit of GDP, and one of the fastest rates of growth in emission.  Both are largely due to a relatively inefficient use of energy, which will hamper the region's competitiveness in the long term.  In addition, the high carbon content of MENA's energy mix, and the high energy intensity of its growth result in a number of negative externalities, such as air pollution, and traffic congestions, which have high social and economic costs. In the past six fiscal years, the World Bank has committed $216 Million on low carbon energy and electricity access projects (for definitions, see the background report on Clean Energy for Development Investment Framework) in MENA.  Click here to see: MENA CO2 Emissions Chart

The World Bank Group is working with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Trust Fund for Environmentally & Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD), the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF), the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the Japan Policy and Human Resources Development Fund (PHRD), the Norwegian Trust Fund for Private Sector and Infrastructure (NTF-PSI), and the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP) to tackle the adaptation and mitigation issues in MENA.

Further background information on climate change in the region can be found in the draft regional business plan. For more information, please contact Raffaello Cervigni (rcervigni@worldbank.org), Regional Coordinator for Climate Change.