United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA)
Mission
ESCWA provides a framework for the formulation and harmonization of sectoral policies for member countries, a platform for congress and coordination, a home for expertise and knowledge, and an information observatory. ESCWA activities are coordinated with the divisions and main offices of the Headquarters of the United Nations, specialized agencies, and international and regional organizations, including the League of Arab States, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
- Combating sand and duct storms (SDS) through Regional and Inter-regional Assessments and global platforms. ESCWA and ESCAP ESCWA and ESCAP were elected as co-chairs for the UN SDS Coalition from 2025 to 2026. Joint Inter-regional Webinars and capacity building workshops on combating SDS were conducted. A series of inter-regional dialogues between the Mashreq and Southwest Asia regions are convened in 2025, within the implementation of the General Assembly's Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms (2025-2034).
- ESCWA conducted a study on estimation of economic loss and damage due to sea level rise in Alexandria, Egypt, by integrating a methodology on economic loss developed by ECLAC with geospatial analysis under a scenario of 30 cm sea level rise by 2060. Loss and damage costs are presented for three different scenarios. These scenarios were introduced to account for uncertainty in the sea level rise projections and the potential introduction of adaptive measures that could limit the impact of sea level rise.
- ESCWA substantially contributed to the Regional Assessment Report on DRR for the Arab Region in coordination with the UNDRR/Office for Arab States. This included inputs to chapters on risk landscapes, impact of a changing climate on systemic risk drivers, and Comprehensive Risk Management (CRM) To tackle systemic risks.
- ESCWA in coordination with WMO are developing the 2024 State of Climate Report for the Arab region.
- ESCWA contributed to the Sixth Arab Regional Platform for DRR that was held in Kuwait in February 2025 on the launching of the RAR, assessing and projecting heat waves indices in the Arab region, and advancing risk knowledge for resilient futures.
Voluntary Commitments
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.
