Latest additions to the knowledge base

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for a fundamental shift in the way drought is perceived and managed in the Near East and North Africa region. The agency said in a new report issued today that a more pro-active approach based on the principles of risk reduction is needed to build greater resilience to droughts.

This report reviews drought management across North Africa and the Near East. It includes Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen

Within a week, two record-setting tropical cyclones that formed in the Gulf of Aden made landfall, wreaking havoc in Somalia, Oman and Yemen. WHO is supporting direct response efforts in Somalia and Yemen, while Oman relies on its preparedness developed in partnership with WHO. Because of Oman’s preparedness, its health system was able to absorb the shock of the storm.

This Recommendation Note outlines the proposed programmatic approach by ESCAP, which comprises two phases of intervention and follows the logic of a structured process to build tsunami early warning and preparedness in the North Western Indian Ocean (NWIO

Since 2009, the Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness (TTF) managed by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has been raising awareness on the tsunami risk posed by the Makran Subduction Zone (MSZ) to

“Reduce disaster loss and protect lives,” that refrain echoed through Cairo, the capital city of Egypt as a 3-day training event kicked off this week bringing together representatives from 11 Arab States committed to implementing the global plan for reducing disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

A new report based on a conference on climate change assessment and adaptation in the Arab region has been released. It is the first report to comprehensively assess the impact of climate change on water resources in the Arab region, and the first integrated assessment of climate change impacts on socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability of Arab States.

Ten years on from the devastation caused by Cyclone Gonu, Oman is much better prepared for such a large-scale disaster, according to experts at Sultan Qaboos University.