Advancing Regional Climate Education
Introduction
Undoubtedly, climate change has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on West Asia and North Africa, making it one of the most affected regions in the world.1 According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published this year, the region is already experiencing increased temperatures and more frequent heat waves. By 2040, these effects are estimated to worsen, with changes in precipitation patterns leading to an increase in water scarcity, droughts, and desertification.2 In this pursuit, advancing regional climate education will be vital to maximizing economic growth and development potential through effective adaptation strategies. These include expanding investments in carbon-free energies, such as solar, wind, green hydrogen, and nuclear energy, leveraging new technologies, and integrating the tourism sector as a key player in the process.
Education and training are critical for enabling communities across the region to adapt to, and recover from, the cross-cutting consequences of climate change. By providing individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and respond to the changing climate, communities, both urban and rural, can become more resilient. Education can also provide young people and future generations with the expertise and necessary know-how to take on environmental leadership roles in their communities, and drive adaptation efforts forward in a more inclusive manner.
Regional climate education measures
Several countries in West Asia and North Africa have taken great strides in integrating professional education with climate adaptation efforts through comprehensive initiatives to advance sustainable practices. There is a strong call for robust collaboration to address energy and water scarcity.3 In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) Energy & Water Knowledge Hub, which was launched last year, is a leading example.4 Located at the Sharjah Research, Technology, and Innovation Park, the hub focuses on ensuring that engineers have the critical skills needed to improve access to clean water, sanitation, and energy in disaster-prone communities around the world. The purpose of the hub is to increase the organization’s capacity for future energy and climate-related projects. It also serves as an epicenter for training and capacity-building to support organizations in conflict-affected areas.5 The ICRC works with local and international government, non-government, and private sector partners to implement projects that enable access to clean water and sanitation in fragile and vulnerable settings, with a focus on sustainable humanitarian action. The hub has recently collaborated with Grundfos, one of the world’s largest pump manufacturers and water solutions providers, to develop and deliver a course for ICRC engineers. The course, which focuses on energy-efficient borehole systems, works to upskill the participants’ competence in the field of small-to-medium pumping systems. It also focuses on a comprehensive design concept that allows the optimization of sustainability and energy consumption, whether renewable or otherwise. It covers the full breadth of a project, from assessment, contractor supervision, and work commissioning, to training operators for operation and maintenance. The course also has a sound theoretical basis and was designed to be practical and immediately applicable to participants’ work in crisis-affected zones.
Another example of how a UAE-based organization is leveraging education to contribute to effective climate action is the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, one of the largest privately funded philanthropies in the region. The Foundation has been investing heavily in youth education for future-focused careers that align with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).6 Its programs have supported over 1,100 vulnerable youth across the West Asia and North Africa region to complete their higher education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects at 15 partner universities in the region and beyond. Their comprehensive approach includes a career readiness core component to promote unique opportunities for students to gain experience in workplaces related to their fields, participate in community service, and engage in leadership roles that prioritize sustainability.7
In Jordan, UNICEF’s Makani program, which translates to “my space” in Arabic, was launched in 2015 as an intervention initiative that integrates learning support, community-based child protection services, adolescent and youth participation, and sustainable skills development into one place.8 The Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund in Dubai has been a key partner of the Makani centers because of their close-fitting alignment with the SDGs, stressing the importance of global innovation that addresses local community needs.9 Their training provides vulnerable young women and men with tools to run, sustain, and manage hydroponic rooftop gardens in the specific context of the Jerash Camp, which has proved to be valuable in numerous ways.10 Locally known as the “Gaza camp,” it is the poorest among the ten Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, with almost 90% of its registered refugees surviving on less than $1.25 per day.11 This specific training program met critical requirements within the camp, as each Green Rooftop unit sustains the agricultural needs of two households.12 Additionally, with the introduction of hydroponic systems, new income-generating opportunities are being created for youth in the camp, especially those who have proven to be entrepreneurial and dedicated to providing solutions for their communities.
A third example comes from Morocco, where the education-climate readiness link is best expressed on a macroeconomic scale. The country’s agricultural and food sectors, which employ almost a third of the national labor force and contribute to over 10% of its GDP, are under threat of droughts due to climate change.13 The country invested in its water infrastructure in recent decades to help reduce the impact of droughts by leveraging an adaptation investment plan instead of the standard mix. This approach results in higher public debt at the first stages of its implementation, but delivers a higher economic return when drought strikes, which is expected with greater frequency in the country due to climate change.14 Morocco’s innovative mitigation strategy highlights an important facet of climate adaptation. An increased administrative and institutional capacity is necessary to be able to engage in this level of investment in adaptation, rather than in response-driven approaches like post-drought relief and recovery packages. For future policy foresight, implementation-focused training for policymakers is critical to understanding how to integrate climate considerations in the governance, planning, and operationalization of national resources.
Finally in Tunisia, where tourism contributes to almost 14% of GDP and around 400,000 employment opportunities, numerous cases show that there is an advantage to strengthening quality tourism that can focus on nature and the environment.15 In 2019, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the Tunisian Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), and the Swisscontact Foundation launched a joint project to promote sustainable tourism in Tunisia. One new venture under this project is the Ras El Ain Nefta eco-tourism hiking trail in Tozeur by Agdor Nefta.16 The trail allows tourists to cross the basket of Nefta, a crevice that hosts 152 natural springs that irrigate a palm grove.17 In the 1980s, these springs were subjected to drying out, but wells were dug to irrigate the orchards and oases and preserve their greenery. Today, the new trail passes through two craft shops, a café, and a number of guesthouses, making it a viable coordinated arrangement to sustain the livelihood of its local population, culture, and economy, while capitalizing on nature rather than destroying it.
These cases from different Arab countries show how education for effective climate adaptation has to be rooted in the value of localized solutions. At the domestic and regional levels, these approaches illustrate that there are pockets of excellence worth scaling up in the efforts to address the climate reality of the region. There are many more localized programs, initiatives, and approaches that are successfully taking off across different Arab states, which is not only significant but also necessary when taking into account the region’s diverse social, political, and economic fabric.
Bridging the education and adaptation gap
As we reflect on these different success stories, there are essential next steps for key actors and sectors to adopt. The critical context of the region requires a multidimensional approach that is free from divisive paradigms that isolate successful solutions that already exist on the ground. Instead, we need to empower these ongoing efforts with further funding and support. If we are to forge a unique, industry-specific way forward to ensure a sustainable collective future for the region, we need to be action-oriented in addressing the human security threat posed by its specific environmental reality. At the recent 2023 World Government Summit in Dubai, it was clear that stakeholders are acutely aware that we are now in desperate need of combining “top-down” and local “bottom-up” initiatives, regional programs, and international partnerships to ensure outcomes-oriented operational results. The roadmap to making these aspirations a reality is not necessarily easy, but, as with all great things, there are elemental building blocks to help us get started. We provide the following five recommendations to support building a better path for prioritizing education as part of the solution for climate adaptation in the region:
1. Identifying shared challenges and existing market interests
Research on the region’s climate adaptation is critical to identify common needs, market interests, and enable joint collaborations. This foundational step cannot be overstated because it will determine if and how targeted joint collaborations will work among different countries and communities. It builds a solid foundation for inter-state cooperation, progress, and mutual development. By identifying common needs and market interests, Arab states can pool resources, expertise, and knowledge to address shared challenges more effectively. This process will require honest self-reflection from regional governments to assess where the real pending challenges are, which trends pinpoint shared issues, where the potential synergies can be, and how to leverage shared opportunities for mutual bilateral and multilateral benefits.
For example, the ICRC has been explicit about the relationship between climate change and humanitarian response and preparedness in its core work.18 Grundfos has always promoted itself as more than just a water pump company but as a proponent of collaborative solutions that make water-for-all possible.19 Both organizations have values and goals tied to serving the needs of others and found a common interest – water security – upon which to work together.
2. Mapping key regional partners in the ecosystem
Private and public sector actors need to purposely seek out and find essential ecosystem collaborators who best align with their environmental principles and objectives, and do the same for those that challenge their models as well. The dissonance in policymaking circles matters because it helps governments, companies, and entities refine their views, understand their contradictions from a different perspective, improve their own reasoning, and finally help them justify their decisions based on a broader and more inclusive knowledge base.
While mutual benefit is indeed necessary, it remains insufficient for long-term success. The requirement for complementary alliances is built upon key actors uniting to set well-defined goals and targets, identifying indispensable capabilities and resources, and devising comprehensive strategies for overcoming obstacles. This stepwise approach cultivates unity and collective responsibility, while also guaranteeing customized solutions for the distinct regional context. This measure enables the use of innovation so that solutions can be inventive, lasting, and expandable, producing results that can be scaled up to benefit different Arab states. A good example is the launch of the Circular Packaging Association in the UAE, which is a first of its kind circular economy cross-sectoral platform that seeks to transform the packaging value chain.20 The UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment has sponsored their project to establish a circular economy for packaging across the GCC in partnership with private sector actors.
3. Developing education-focused joint initiatives across sectors
The development of practical joint projects that prioritize education for climate adaptation requires the collaboration of various stakeholders, including the public sector, industry, and educational institutions. Each actor in this process needs to be utilized for their specific expertise and value-add for the venture to work. It takes the stakeholder framework to an operational level that makes an action-oriented difference. For example, CloudFisher, a system to collect clean water in a non-invasive and ecologically friendly way in Morocco, was an outcome of a joint study, where all stakeholders had a vested interest in producing the most productive fog collector at high wind speeds (up to 120 kph) in the country.21 Wasserstiftung engaged with the Moroccan NGO, Dar Si Hmad, to support its development.22 They both had a vested interest in finding a solution for the nets that were tearing so often that Amazigh villagers were hiking the mountain and repairing them on a nearly daily basis. The shared venture succeeded in achieving the goal of supporting those with insufficient access to clean drinking water while complying with the WHO drinking water standards.23
4. Making educational institutions part of the prologue
Incorporating education into collaborative partnerships is critical for the sustainability of innovative ideas. Educational institutions should participate in the dissemination of knowledge on climate adaptation and sustainability to ensure long-term impact. They should also be involved in the anticipation of program scalability because the design, deployment, implementation, and results-based management of any mutual project requires informed stakeholders that possess the technical knowledge to advise on the academic direction of the programs. These institutions are the most regionally capable of creating relevant curricula, research, and training frameworks to help a new generation of leaders emerge ready to address the challenges of climate adaptation from various angles.
As part of their commitment to increasing access to higher education certifications for underserved youth, the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education launched the Hub for Digital Teaching and Learning in partnership with the American University of Beirut. The Hub promotes innovation in education through its online Joint Professional Diploma in Green Technologies, which was developed in collaboration with the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the Lebanese American University (LAU) as a first of its kind in the region. The Pro-Green Diploma addresses approaches to emerging sustainable technologies and their applications in the building industry with sector-based assignments.24
5. Connecting work and impact to allow for course corrections
For actual impact to be both substantial and sustainable, monitoring and evaluating short, medium, and long-term outcomes is essential. It is only in being transparent about these outcomes that we can make the necessary course corrections based on new data and information so that we can develop new insights to both share and scale at a regional level. This requires cultivating a shared dialogue for action among stakeholders that has a foundation of trust based on accountability. Difficult conversations, across sectors, need to be welcomed as we connect the work to impact, and be intentional about measuring results beyond outputs and outcomes. Looking at the broader systemic change needed for scalable transformations is crucial. This focus necessitates a deep understanding of the complex challenges so that we can adapt our projects, programs, initiatives, and strategies as needed.
By embracing a learning-oriented approach to climate adaptation, we can continuously improve our collaborative frameworks and ensure that we are making progress toward the SDGs in a meaningful and sustainable way. Ultimately, the collective focus needs to remain on the goal of creating positive impact, and to productively collaborate with others who share this vision.
Conclusion
Notwithstanding the region’s diverse landscape, individuals and communities share a noteworthy resilience and sense of hope that demands more from entities, institutions, and corporations. They now need to collectively deliver on the promise of the SDGs in this decade of action. We have already heard the calls for better coordination, collaboration, and collective efforts to address the climate crisis through mitigation. While mitigation efforts, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, are important, they will not immediately help the local farmer, teacher, bus driver, and shop owner, whose livelihoods are at immediate risk, with projections of additional environmental disasters in the near term. A greater emphasis on education and training for climate adaptation is therefore paramount. Empowering future generations with the ability to prepare for, and adjust to, the consequences of climate change is how we will empower them to survive and thrive across future sectors. Education helps communities become less vulnerable by increasing their ability to cope with, and recover from, environmental damage. It also enables local communities to leverage existing challenges to creatively promote sustainable social and economic development across the region.
To access the works cited & endnotes, download the full report.
The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors, and do not represent Fiker Institute.
