LAKI in the North Africa subregion

Partnership with Bibliotheca Alexandrina

A) Priority Setting Workshop:

A three day LAKI priority setting workshop for the North Africa subregion was held in the impressive Library of Alexandria, Egypt on 19-21 September 2017. The workshop was co-organized with the UN Environment Programme and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The intellectual inputs of eight multi-stakeholder group members over the course of three days and a rigorous methodology resulted in 18 priority knowledge gaps for the subregion covering Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. These knowledge gaps address water resources, coastal zones, agriculture and desertification. 

Please click here to access the full workshop report.

B) Priority Adaptation Knowledge Gaps and Actions Undertaken to Close the Priority Knowledge Gaps:

Over 2020 and 2021, the LAKI has engaged international regional, national and local partners to identify and codesign joint actions to close the knowledge gaps noted in the priority setting workshop. 

Related resources: 

Coordinating Efforts to Address Knowledge Gaps in MENA Region

Building Momentum to Close Adaptation Knowledge Gaps in MENA Region

Adapting to Climate Impacts in MENA Region

Building momentum to Close Adaptation Knowledge Gaps in the MENA region: Focus on climate-smart agriculture and nature-based solutions

The organizations convened, expressed an interest to work together to address the priority adaptation knowledge gaps. In addition to a pre-engagement virtual process (which including one-to-one meetings with each participating organization), three other technical meetings were convened to:

encourage representatives from the participating organizations to share ideas on potential proposals to close priority knowledge gaps with target users in mind

support discussions to unpack the proposals including the knowledge outputs in more depth

provide guidance on access to finance to implement the proposals suggested.

Progress and learning from these actions were showcased through events in 2021–2022, including COP26 (Glasgow, November 2021) and the MENA Regional Climate Week  (March 2022).

For the North Africa subregion, the work has been undertaken in collaboration with the UNFCCC-WGEO Regional Collaboration Center for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia based in Dubai (RCC Dubai), the UNEP Regional Office for West Asia, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

LAKI in North Africa supports countries in translating priority adaptation knowledge gaps into usable knowledge products, decision tools, and partner-led responses under the Nairobi Work Programme. The priorities below serve as a foundation for regional coordination and ongoing knowledge-to-action efforts.

The priority knowledge gaps identified for the North Africa subregion are provided in the table below.

No.	Thematic area	Gap Description	Cluster	Knowledge user	Proposed Actions to close the Priority Gaps
1)	Agriculture	Lack of access to data related to rain-fed agriculture and irrigated agriculture	Lack of access [2]	Researchers, scholar	MENA-Grand Challenge of Climate Smart AgriFood Transformation. Lead organization: The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) [ongoing]
2)	Water resources	Lack of accessible information on climate change impacts on water resources	Lack of access [2]	Water sector managers and policy makers	MENA-Grand Challenge of Climate Smart AgriFood  Transformation. Lead organization: The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) [ongoing] MENA Regional Climate Observatory Network (MRCON). Lead organization: The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) [ongoing]
3)	Water resources	Limited understanding of climate variability and trends, including placing current observations into historical context	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge), lack of tools/methods [Mix]	Water infrastructure designers	MENA-Grand Challenge of Climate Smart AgriFood  Transformation. Lead organization: The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) [ongoing] Water Governance capacity-building, guidelines and implementation. Lead organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) [ongoing] Innovation Hub-Scaling up and enabling environment. Lead organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) [ongoing]
4)	Water resources	Insufficient knowledge on rainfall historical data, trends and projections	Lack of data, lack of access [Mix]	Water resource planners	MENA Regional Climate Observatory Network (MRCON). Lead organization: The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) [ongoing]
5)	Desertification	Insufficient knowledge and information sharing on solutions/ good practices and lessons learned to combat desertification	Lack of data, lack of access [Mix]	Water infrastructure designers
6)	Agriculture	Lack of awareness on negative climate change impacts on yield	Lack of access [2]	Water resource planners
7)	Coastal zones	Lack of information for developing resilience strategies in urban planning in coastal zones	Lack of data [1]	Ministries of Agriculture
8)	Water resources	Lack of accurate information on status of water resources (i.e. water availability, consumption patterns, water quality)	Lack of data [1]	Ministries of Water	MENA Regional Climate Observatory Network (MRCON). Lead organization: The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)[ongoing] Water Governance capacity-building, guidelines and implementation. Lead organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) [ongoing]
9)	Agriculture	Lack of awareness on negative climate change impacts on livelihoods	Lack of access, lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., need to repackage existing knowledge) [Mix]	Farmers organizations, local authorities
10)	Desertification	Insufficient information and knowledge about interconnections between desertification and socio-economic development	Lack of data, lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., need to repackage existing knowledge) [Mix]	Government, agricultural and rural advisory services providers	Innovation Hub-Scaling up and enabling environment. Lead organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) [ongoing]
11)	Agriculture	Limited information and knowledge sharing on interlinkages with other sectors	Lack of access, lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., need to repackage existing knowledge) [Mix]	Decision makers, policy makers and planners
12)	Coastal zones	Limited knowledge on the benefits of integration of coastal management and protection into national development plans and priorities	Lack of access, lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., need to repackage existing knowledge) [Mix]	River basin agencies, environmental institutions, and water resource planners
13)	Coastal zones	Need for improved information regarding population dynamics within sea level rise models	Lack of data [1]	Farmers organizations, local authorities
14)	Coastal zones	Lack of information on understanding of risks due to sea level rise among the different coastal zones	Lack of data [1]	Central authorities of demographic statistics
15)	Coastal zones	Need for improved information on technologies to protect coastal cities against sea level rise	Lack of data [1]	Ministry of Agriculture
16)	Water resources	Limited knowledge on technologies and best practices to adapt to the impacts of climate change on water resources	Lack of data [1]	Policy makers and planners	Drought and Forecasting Management Tool. Lead organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) [ongoing]
17)	Water resources	Lack of reliable data on water-quantity and quality, including accessibility to available reliable data and databases	Lack of data, lack of access [Mix]	Policy makers and planners
18)	Water resources	Limited access to available data on water- quantity and quality	Lack of access [2]	Policy makers and planners

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