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Brunel International Lecture Series: Middle East and North Africa, November 2023

The MENA region faces a varied range of risks relating to accelerated climate change, including increasingly intense and frequent droughts and floods. The sixth leg of the 14th Brunel International Lecture Series explored the severe threats that these pose to vulnerable local communities. It also looked at the measures that some countries are taking to increase the climate resilience of their critical infrastructure.

The 14th Brunel International Lecture Series is produced by the ICE and the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI).

It shines a spotlight on equitable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure challenges around the world and how the engineering community can help to address them.

The sixth lecture in the series focused on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Dr Georges Youssef, mayor of the Lebanese municipality of Menjez, gave the keynote address.

In it, he considered the key role that engineers can play in planning, implementing and even funding climate-resilient infrastructure in the region.

This was followed by a panel discussion chaired by ICSI executive director Savina Carluccio.

The panellists were:

  • Professor Khalifa Al-Jabri, head of the department of civil and architectural engineering at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
  • Sarah El Battouty, global ambassador for the UN High-Level Climate Champions and co-founder of Econsult Architecture
  • Nick Gardner, head of programme at the UN Office for Project Services
  • Dr Hala Omar, senior sustainability manager at Dar Al-Handasah and vice president of the Egypt Green Building Council
  • Moustafa Yehia, director of sustainability at AtkinsRéalis
Brunel Lecutre MENA infographic
Explore the MENA Brunel Lecture with our infographic. Click image to enlarge

The MENA region in numbers

13 tonnes of CO2e
The region’s estimated annual greenhouse gas emissions per capita, placing it above Europe (8 tonnes)

65%
Proportion of the region’s population living in urban areas, exceeding the global average of 55%

3.8 million
Number of people living in areas prone to floods and cyclones in Oman, making up 80% of the population

What are the challenges?

As defined by the World Bank, the MENA region comprises 21 territories, stretching 5,000 miles from Iran in the east to Morocco in the west.

It covers one of the world’s most arid tracts, including the Arabian desert and much of the Sahara.

But the region is not only vulnerable to heatwaves and droughts, as Dr Georges Youssef noted in his keynote address.

He highlighted other increasingly severe risks resulting from climate change.

These included tropical cyclones, flash floods and rising sea levels – along with the threat of earthquakes, especially in the region’s seismically active north-eastern corner.

The MENA region, he noted, “is diverse, with each territory having very specific challenges related to climate change. Extreme weather events are happening across the region year on year. These have an impact upon most infrastructure networks, including transport, water and energy.”

Menjez is in Akkar, Lebanon’s northernmost governorate, close to the border with Syria. Youssef explained that the municipality’s population is particularly worried about water security.

The reliability of food supplies has also been a concern, given that pests and diseases have reduced agricultural output here in recent years.

The municipality also has other socioeconomic problems to deal with, but it has shown ambitious climate leadership, setting an example for other communities in the area to follow.

In the panel session, Professor Khalifa Al-Jabri described how extreme weather events have had disastrous consequences for many Omani citizens.

Some 80% of citizens live in low-lying coastal areas or by wadis – riverbeds that are dry much of the year.

These areas are particularly prone to flash floods, cyclones and rising sea levels.

In 2007, for instance, cyclone Gonu caused more than 50 fatalities and £3bn worth of infrastructural damage in Oman - the nation’s deadliest natural disaster on record.

Such challenges call for robust risk management strategies and underline the importance of resilience planning in infrastructure projects.

brunel south asia traffic-around-charminar-market

Some 80% of Oman’s population live in areas that are prone to floods and cyclones (credit: iStock/Katiekk2)

What is happening now?

System-level changes

Youssef argued that the MENA region should adopt a more holistic approach. It should think about systems in their entirety rather than focusing on individual components if the region is to make its infrastructure more resilient.

He stressed the importance of establishing protocols for monitoring and managing extreme weather events and incorporating disaster risk reduction planning in national strategies and programmes.

“It is important to look at how these systems are interacting with each other and can be better integrated to ensure the most value and the greatest impact against the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” Youssef said.

Adapting towns and cities in the region to become more resilient, sustainable and equitable will need the simultaneous transformation of key interconnected infrastructure systems such as transport networks.

Public transport in the MENA region has largely been limited to commuter bus services. However, developments in sustainable public transport have encouraged more people to reduce their private car use in recent years.

The Dubai Metro, for instance, opened in 2009 and has since been extended, with further lines under consideration.

Meanwhile, the construction of the six-line Riyadh Metro is nearly finished. This rapid transit system is set to serve 84 stations and integrate with the city’s bus system.

Sustainable transport networks, such as the Dubai Metro, are playing a key role in reducing private car use
Sustainable transport networks, such as the Dubai Metro, are playing a key role in reducing private car use (credit: iStock/AerialPerspective Works)

Building capacity

Youssef outlined important initiatives in Menjez that have helped to build capacity and integrate resilience into the fabric of the district.

Since 2014, Menjez has been a signatory to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM).

Comprising commitments from more than 12,500 municipal authorities, the GCoM is the world’s largest international alliance focused on building climate-resilient cities.

With its help, Menjez has implemented measures including the conversion of street lighting to LED bulbs and the construction of a photovoltaic (solar) plant to supplement existing power generation facilities.

It has also started a reforestation project that aims to plant 25,000 trees.

Meanwhile, to make the local agriculture sector more resilient, Menjez has established a 50,000m3 rainwater harvesting facility to irrigate farmland surrounding the town.

Sarah El Battouty cited initiatives that are helping to build resilience in rural Egypt, where more than 58 million people live.

She explained that the UN is working on a partnership with the national government called Decent Life (see case study, below) to improve infrastructure – and people’s lives – in these deprived areas.

Credit: iStock/ ajlber

Improving quality of life in Egypt

The Haya Karima (Decent Life) initiative aims to enhance the living standards of some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in rural Egypt.

Part of the government’s Egypt Vision 2030 agenda, the EGP500bn (£8.2bn) investment project has been upgrading the infrastructure of more than 4,000 villages around the country.

So far, 11,600 homes have been improved, 100 miles of roadway have been paved and more than 60 railway stations have been upgraded.

Clean water supplies and effective sanitation services have also been a key focus of the programme.

New pumping stations and wastewater treatments have been built under the programme.

More than 287,000 homes have been connected to the sewerage system.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Linking our work back to the UN SDGs is a core part of the ICE’s plan and mission. This article ties in with the following SDGs:

What changes are needed?

Funding resilient infrastructure

If they’re to fund their sustainable development priorities adequately, governments and NGOs need easier access to green finance.

Acknowledging this as a key challenge, Youssef pointed to the need for more public-private partnerships and cited a GCoM campaign called Invest4Cities.

This groundbreaking initiative is, among other things, working on large-scale financing mechanisms to fund the implementation of the climate action plans of the cities taking part.

Nick Gardner highlighted the urgent need to redirect more global finance towards resilient and sustainable infrastructure. He called for a shift in mindset among potential providers of green finance.

He explained that there’s plenty of money that could go into renewable energy projects in the MENA region, but unlocking it remains a challenge.

This is because many entities controlling these funds don’t have the information they need to risk large investments in such schemes.

Gardner added that NGOs such as the UN need to improve these potential investors’ knowledge and build their confidence to transform how green funding is allocated.

Moustafa Yehia noted that the engineering community has a part to play in releasing more green finance. It can do this by quantifying the long-term benefits of infrastructure investment – something he has seen happening in Egypt.

Dr Hala Omar echoed his view, adding that collaboration is important when it comes to developing policies, codes, detailed frameworks and incentive schemes to attract investors.

Engaging communities

Community engagement and consultation must be prioritised from the start of any project to improve infrastructural resilience, according to Youssef.

This will help to ensure that such developments are as inclusive and equitable as possible.

He cited Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) as an example of consultative best practice in the MENA region.

The ITC, an agency of the emirate’s government, engaged with community stakeholders to ensure that local transport systems would be developed in ways that would meet their needs.

It also consulted the emergency services to check that its planned solutions would meet all the relevant regulations.

Youssef highlighted the crucial role of engineers in the early stages of any sustainable development initiative.

“Engineers need to work hand in hand with communities, governments and other stakeholders,” he said.

This should ensure that the projects they work on are “not just technically sound, but also socially and environmentally responsible”.

  • Amanda Rice, ICE climate programme specialist

About the series

Comprising a mix of physical and virtual gatherings, the worldwide Brunel series will comprise nine lectures in total, culminating in a Hong Kong event in July 2024. As the series progresses, it will explore the regional and global challenges – and opportunities – that climate change presents to the engineering community.

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