World Bank Releases Report on Climate Change Adaptation in the Arab world

Doha, December 05 (QNA) - The World Bank presented its new report on 'Adaptation to a Changing Climate in the Arab World' in the presence of the President of the United Nations 18th Conference on Climate Change Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah. HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada underlined the importance of the report, which emphasizes the urgent need to take immediate measures to cope with rising temperatures in the Arab world, which increased by 50% faster than the global averages. Addressing a ceremony marking the release of the report, held this evening on the sidelines of COP 18 Conference, HE the Minister of Energy and Industry warned against the negative effects resulting from climate change particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, noting that the World Bank report indicates that 50 million people in the Arab world have been affected by climate disasters over the past 30 years. Dr. Al Sada called for the need to speed up the implementation of policies ensuring that the region will avert such risks that threaten it as a result of the increased temperature rise. He said temperature rise in the world by four degrees is a major threat to the future of the planet in general, explaining that the World Bank report confirms that Arab countries are more affected than the rest of the world as coastal cities will suffer from floods and hurricanes, as well as high malnutrition rate and high heat waves, which in turn threatens the future of food security in the region. Dr. Al Sada underlined the importance of World Bank report's warning that harsh climatic phenomena constitute a greater threat to the Arab region, recalling that the Arab world has recently suffered from an unprecedented rise in temperature which in turn raises great concern over water scarcity in the region, as well as the serious effect of those changes in the field of agriculture, which would contribute to a dramatic decline in the level of growth after 2050. He added that such serious climatic phenomena will not only affect the field of agriculture and environmental, but also the tourism and economic sectors, noting that continued high temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa at this level will mainly affect tourism, on which some countries in the region are basically relying. Concluding, HE Al Sada thanked the World Bank for releasing the report praising the efforts of the work team which came out with this report that is based on scientific grounds, saying it contains important information to the countries of the region that may contribute to helping them confront the risks of climate change and ensure a safe future. For her part, Tunisian Minister of Environment Mamiyah Al-Banna said in similar speech that Tunisia is keen to strengthen its contribution to the international efforts aimed to mitigate climate change in spite of the limited potentials and the transitional stage challenges that require great efforts in the economic and social spheres.     Al-Banna said a number of projects and programmes that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are currently being implemented in Tunisian within the framework of the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol in the areas of energy rationalization, development of renewable energy sources as well as improvement of waste management with the support of the World Bank.     She added that Tunisia is currently working on the adoption of its national strategy on climate change, which include particularly the voluntarily target of carbon intensity reduction by 60% with the advent of the year 2030 compared with the level in 2009, saying that should be achieved without adverse results on the development drive. (QNA)