RICCAR

RICCAR projects the impact of climate change and the vulnerability of water-dependent sectors in the Arab region, where 86 per cent of the population lives under water scarcity. 

Arab Governments called for the development of RICCAR through various declarations and resolutions upon which United Nations-League of Arab States coordination is based. 

RICCAR responds to the request of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment and the Arab Ministerial Water Council to increase understanding of the impact of climate change, and its implications for socioeconomic vulnerability in the Arab region.

Our approach

RICCAR provides a common knowledge base for addressing and responding to climate change impacts on freshwater resources and water-dependent sectors through an integrated assessment informed by regional climate modelling, hydrological modelling, vulnerability assessment and geospatial analysis.  RICCAR work builds on the following four pillars: 

• Baseline assessment 

• Impact analysis and vulnerability assessment 

• Capacity-building and institutional strengthening 

• Awareness raising and information dissemination 

Our partners

Partners:  

League of Arab States, Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für lnternationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Office in Cairo, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with support provided by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) 

Our activities

The Regional Initiative: 

1. Delineated an Arab Domain and Mashreq Domain for generating regional climate modelling projections. 

2. Generates ensembles of regional climate projections based on IPCC validated representative concentration pathways. 

3. Conducts detailed analysis of climate change impacts on water resources, based on hydrological modelling tools. 

4. Incorporates extreme weather event analysis in climate change impact assessments and vulnerability assessments. 

5. Identifies vulnerability hotspots. 

6. Builds the capacity of Arab water ministries and meteorological institutions to engage in climate prediction and climate change projection. 

7. Provides a common and comparable scientific understanding of climate change impacts and associated vulnerabilities across the Arab region. 

8. Informs policy dialogue, negotiations and exchange among Arab decision makers.