Increased climate resilience planning for municipal water resources in Lebanon
Introduction
In line with Lebanon’s updated first NDC in 2020, which prioritizes climate change adaptation (CCA) and key actions on biodiversity, forestry, and agriculture, water resources, the coastal zone, health, and disaster risk management, the Ministry of Environment (MoE) started a national dialogue for developing a national adaptation framework in 2017. This proposed national adaptation planning (NAP) readiness project is designed to address barriers related to CCA mainstreaming, capacity, data, and implementation. The goal of the project is to increase the resilience of water resource planning in urban areas in Lebanon. To address the identified barriers and achieve the project’s goal, the proposed NAP project will focus on two main areas: adaptation planning governance and institutional coordination, and evidence basis for impactful adaptation solutions.
Project details
This national adaptation planning (NAP) readiness project – “Increased climate resilience planning for municipal water resources in Lebanon”- is designed to address the barriers: (i) limited mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into national and local planning and budgeting; (ii) weak institutional and technical capacity and staffing in sectoral Ministries, including Ministry of Energy and Water and the Ministry of Environment: (iii) lack of reliable data and climate change related information on water resources for municipal use; and (iv) limited implementation of existing action plans for water. The goal of the project is to increase the resilience of water resource planning in urban areas in Lebanon.
Climate change including increased temperatures, evapotranspiration, changes in rainfall patterns, and sea-level rise are posing threat to the water resources in Lebanon, leading to decreased water availability. The project focuses on water resources in urban areas based on stakeholder consultations that informed the development of this project. Adaptation in agriculture is being addressed by numerous development partners in Lebanon whereas little support has been directed towards adaptation in urban areas, to urban water resources management.
To address the identified barriers and achieve the project’s goal, this NAP project will focus on the following results under the two main outcomes:
- To contribute to “Strengthening adaptation planning governance and institutional coordination”, the project will focus on developing the NAP Process steering mechanism, adaptation strategy and National Adaptation Plan Roadmap, improve capacity of technical personnel and decision-makers to mainstream adaptation, and increase adaptation related technical capacity of local communities.
- For building the “Evidence base to design adaptation solutions”, the project will improve climate information for water management in urban areas and priority adaptation actions for water resource management in urban areas.
- National Governments
The project will directly benefit the communities and local authorities of the City of Tyre and the Nahr-el Kalb Watershed, with a rebound effect across other coastal cities and watersheds. In addition, by strengthening coordination mechanisms, information sharing, institutional arrangements, and capacity building, the government and the climate change community will benefit from this integrated NAP project.
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Key results and output
- Outcome 3.1: Adaptation planning governance and institutional coordination strengthened
- Outcome 3.2: Evidence basis produced to design adaptation solutions for maximum impact