Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries - (IPCC) - Working ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE 77 • Nile Basin countries: Egypt and Sudan. • Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Yemen. • Sahel countries: Somalia, Djipouti and Comoros Islands. Each <strong>of</strong> the above five regions has its distinct hydrological characteristics that can briefly be explained as follows: Al Mashrek Region • Iraq and Syria are partially dependant on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, originating from Turkey. The two countries have rainfall <strong>of</strong> reasonable intensity and groundwater potential in both countries is relatively high. Syria enjoys small flows caused by snow melt from the peaks <strong>of</strong> some local mountains. • Lebanon depends on a number <strong>of</strong> local rivers or rivers shared with one or more <strong>of</strong> the neighbouring countries. • The per capita shares <strong>of</strong> water in Lebanon as well as in Syria and Iraq are the highest among all Arab countries. • Jordan and Palestine are the water poorest in this region since they depend upon the Jordan river and small quantities <strong>of</strong> rainfall and groundwater. Al Maghreb Region • All five Maghreb countries depend mainly on rainfall and partially on modest groundwater reserves. Nile Basin Region • The southern part <strong>of</strong> Sudan enjoys ample precipitation which can meet the prevailing evaporative demand; however, rain gradually vanishes north <strong>of</strong> the capital Khartoum. Following the signing <strong>of</strong> the Nile Water Agreement in 1959, Sudan and Egypt divided the average natural flow at Aswan (84 billion m 3 /year) to one quarter for Sudan (18.5 billion m 3 /year), three quarters for Egypt (55.5 billion m 3 /year) and the remaining 10 billion m 3 /year were left to make up for natural evaporation from Lake Nasser.
78 CHAPTER 6 FRESH WATER • This is the poorest region with respect to water resources, where rainfall is rare by all standards, groundwater either does not exist or has already been depleted and surface water is virtually non-existent. The region depends for its water needs mainly on the desalination <strong>of</strong> water from the Gulf. Yemen is the only country in the Arabian Peninsula which depends on rainfall and partially on groundwater. Sahel Countries • Somalia, Djibouti and the Comoros Islands are all dependant on rainfall with modest potential <strong>of</strong> groundwater. The above brief description <strong>of</strong> the hydrological situation in the Arab countries reveals a number <strong>of</strong> important facts: • The lowest vulnerability to climate change is in the case <strong>of</strong> the Arabian Peninsula where the internal renewable water resources in the region at the present time are very limited. Whatever happens is not going to reduce the already very low internal renewable water resources. • The four countries largely dependant on river flows originating outside their boundaries, namely Egypt, Sudan, Iraq and Syria are not only vulnerable to reduced or increased flows caused by climate change, they are also vulnerable to the actions taken by upstream riparian countries which may affect river flows downstream. • The natural flow <strong>of</strong> the Nile forms 95% <strong>of</strong> the Egyptian water budget, with the remaining 5% composed <strong>of</strong> minor quantities <strong>of</strong> rain which falls on the coast <strong>of</strong> the Mediterranean and Red Seas (about 1.5 billion m 3 /year) plus modest reserves <strong>of</strong> groundwater aquifers. The Arabian Peninsula • Al Maghreb countries are the most vulnerable to climate change since they are almost fully dependant on rainfall. Libya is an exception with the Great Manmade River now forming the major source <strong>of</strong> water to the country. The river is fed by pumping water from the Nubian Sandstone aquifer shared with Egypt, Sudan and Chad. However, the life time <strong>of</strong> the project is only fifty years, after which the country will have to find other alternatives. • Djibouti and the Comoros Islands are more threatened by sinking caused by sea level rise than by high or low natural fresh water flows. • Jordan and Palestine possess at the present time the lowest per capita share <strong>of</strong> water in the Arab world (100-200 m 3 per capita per year). The vulnerability <strong>of</strong> sharing their water resources with Israel which is expanding in terms <strong>of</strong> both
Page 2 and 3:
Arab Environment: Climate</
Page 4 and 5:
ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE II
Page 6 and 7:
ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE V
Page 8 and 9:
ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE VI
Page 10 and 11:
ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE IX
Page 12 and 13:
XII INTRODUCTION A number o
Page 14 and 15:
XIV INTRODUCTION nology cooperation
Page 16 and 17:
XVI INTRODUCTION The respondents to
Page 18 and 19:
XVIII INTRODUCTION activities based
Page 20 and 21:
XX INTRODUCTION by climate change.
Page 22 and 23:
XXII INTRODUCTION REGIONAL CLIMATE
Page 24 and 25:
CHAPTER 1 1 Arab Public Opinion and
Page 26 and 27:
ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE 3
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
CHAPTER 2 13 GHG Emissions: Mitigat
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51: ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE 27
Page 54 and 55: CHAPTER 3 31 A Remote Sensing Study
Page 70 and 71: CHAPTER 4 47 Impact</strong
Page 124 and 125: CHAPTER 8 101 Impact</stron
Page 136 and 137: CHAPTER 9 113 Impact</stron
Page 144 and 145: CHAPTER 10 121 Impact</stro
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
CHAPTER 11 129 International Negoti
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
CHAPTER 12 143 Interrelation betwee
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
156 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CNA
Page 180 and 181:
158 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS MENA
show all

Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries - (IPCC) - Working ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?