January 20, 2021 | 1pages
Land, natural resources and climate change in the Arab region

The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS) is undertaking a desk review study on “land, natural resources, and climate change in the Arab region”. The study is part of the work of the Arab Land Initiative, coordinated by the Global Land Tool Network and UN-Habitat and supported by BMZ.

The Arab region has a wide variation of climatic conditions and characteristics. Most countries however lie in predominantly semi-arid and arid regions with rapidly increasing rates of land degradation. According to some studies, the region is among the world’s most vulnerable regions to the adverse impacts of climate change. The manifestations of climate change in the region include: temperature rise, more severe aridity and changes in the spans of seasons, water resources depletion, sea level rise, temperature changes in sea water, flooding, droughts, and other extreme weather events and natural hazards. These impacts affect human settlements (housing, agricultural and other economic activities) as well natural habitats. As a result, large population groups lose livelihood sources, access to fresh water, access to productive land and housing, and face forced displacement. Climate change may hence have severe implications on land tenure security and property rights of certain groups with the intricate and varying tenure systems at place in the region.

As part of this study, LCPS is organizing and carrying out two online Expert Group Meetings (EGMs). The first EGM will address specific issues related to land governance and climate change. The second EGM will address the specific issues related to rangelands and pastoral lands, both in the context of the Arab region. The main purpose of the meetings is to fill knowledge gaps in existing studies as well as to allow experience exchange among experts and organizations working on the topics.

The meetings will include land experts and academicians from the Arab region, as well as actors from the different international organizations working on the topics of land, climate change and natural resources in the region. These meetings will hence provide an opportunity to connect experts and partners to each other by way of promoting future collaboration and coordination.

The meetings will be held on 18 and 20 January 2021 respectively. LCPS will produce a short report on the outcomes of each meeting. The two reports will contribute to the final research report of the study.

The meeting reports will contribute to improved understanding of the key land challenges related to land degradation and climate change with a repertoire of case studies on related challenges, existing approaches, tools, and recommendations.