The discussion will be held in both Arabic and English, with interpretation available on Zoom only.

You can register to attend by following this link. You will receive a Zoom confirmation email should your registration be successful. Alternatively, you can watch the event live here on our Facebook page.

As COP 28 quickly approaches, taking place in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the second year in a row, multiple countries across the MENA region are in disarray, either ravaged by armed conflict or facing severe political and economic crises. As these countries struggle to meet the basic needs of their own people, these challenges have prevented the establishment of any proper national and regional response to climate change – a dire reality in a region considered by experts to be one of the world’s most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Indeed, the majority of countries in the MENA trail alarmingly behind when it comes to climate action. Despite the clear and visible urgency of the situation, all evidence points to a looming, rapid rise in environmental degradation and disasters, extreme temperatures, droughts, and floods over the next several decades.

To address the growing climate challenges across the region, it is estimated that MENA countries will need approximately d $436-478 billion in climate financing from through 2030, yet there remains a staggering gap between this target and the funds currently delivered per year for both adaptation and mitigation projects. Last year’s COP 27 saw the landmark approval of a Loss and Damage fund, but it remains to be seen how these funds will be implemented, particularly in developing contexts at the nexus of environmental damage and catastrophes combined with armed conflicts and political crises. There remains a pressing need for programming that addresses the unique set of challenges faced by MENA countries in conflict, such as Syria or Sudan, as well as fragile contexts with deteriorating economies, such as Egypt and Lebanon.

On Wednesday, November 29th at 5pm Beirut time, join the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) for a panel discussion on the contours and challenges of climate finance in some of the MENA region’s most fragile contexts. We aim for this webinar to discuss how could existing discussions on climate finance and loss and damage in the region be expanded to include the nexus of conflict, state and economic failure, climate and environment? How could the most vulnerable communities across the MENA region best benefit from this climate funding, especially as failed and failing states often suffer from rampant corruption and aid diversion? How can citizens be placed at the center of climate finance planning and equitable distribution, and what role is incumbent on the donor community at large?