The World Bank Group announced yesterday a new plan to ramp up support for countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to confront the multiple threats of climate change. Over the next four years, the MENA Climate Action Plan aims to nearly double the portion of Bank financing dedicated to climate action, taking it to around US$1.5 billion per year by 2020. Speaking at a press conference at the COP 22 global climate summit in Marrakech, World Bank MENA Vice President Hafez Ghanem said the plan would focus on the four priorities of food and water security, sustainable cities adapted to new climate conditions, the transition to low-carbon energy, and the protection of the poorest who are most exposed to the impacts of climate change.

 

“Climate change will make a difficult situation much worse, and will affect millions of people in the Middle East and North Africa region” said Ghanem, “this is especially true of the impact on scarce water resources, already the lowest in the world, which will become even scarcer, threatening critical industries such as agriculture, on which millions in poorer, rural areas depend for their livelihoods.”

 

The MENA Climate Action Plan is based on a set of five commitments that draw on the Bank’s strengths in climate financing, global experience and building partnerships. The first is to shift more of Bank financing to climate action, and the second complementary commitment is to almost double the support for adaptation to the new climate reality. This will include support for social safety nets that protect the most vulnerable to climate change, urban design and disaster preparedness that protect people and property from extreme weather and its consequences, as well as better management of natural resources, especially in vulnerable eco-systems.

 

The third commitment is to support the policy reforms that will lay the foundations for a green future, such as lifting costly fossil fuel subsidies that encourage inefficient use of energy, and creating the right regulations to encourage private investments in renewable energy. The fourth is to meet the costs of transitioning to green growth by using Bank programs to attract private finance, and guarantees to lower the risk for private investors. The fifth and final commitment is to build regional partnerships to develop common solutions for common challenges such as water scarcity and access to energy.