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Regional Office for Arab States

Regional Office for Arab States
The UNDRR Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) was established in 2007 to support the Arab States and communities build their resilience to disasters.

Covering 22 Arab countries, the UNDRR Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) was established in 2007 and based in Cairo, Egypt. It supports governments and partners to protect people from disasters, build resilience and advance risk-informed sustainable development, in line with the Sendai Framework and the Arab Strategy for DRR 2030.

ROAS provides technical assistance to develop and refine risk-informed policies, plans and institutional arrangements, and to monitor and report progress through the Sendai Framework Monitor (SFM) and strengthen disaster loss and damage data systems. The office promotes the use of risk information, climate data and scenarios to inform national and local planning, strengthen multi-hazard early warning systems, and guide prevention, preparedness and resilient recovery.

ROAS also advances DRR financing, working with DRR institutions and ministries of finance and planning to strengthen risk-informed public finance, including approaches such as budget tagging and tracking, identification of financing gaps, and country-led pathways to invest more effectively in prevention and resilience. At the regional level, ROAS convenes and supports coordination and accountability through the Arab Regional Platform for DRR and strengthens local action through Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030).

In partnership with the League of Arab States and its technical organizations, and through collaboration with United Nations Country Teams, regional and international organizations and stakeholder groups, ROAS builds innovative partnerships with civil society, science and technical networks, the private sector and media. Across all areas of work, ROAS promotes inclusive, people-centered risk governance, integrating gender equality and diversity and strengthening youth engagement in policy dialogue and decision-making.

Highlights

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Countries

Country Sendai Focal Point National Platform Country on PreventionWeb
Algeria Ministry of Interior, Local Collectivities and Land Management National Platform Country resources
Bahrain National Committee for Disaster Management, Ministry of Interior National Platform Country resources
Comoros Volcanological Observatory of Karthala National Platform Country resources
Djibouti Ministry of Interior and Decentralization National Platform Country resources
Egypt Crisis and Disaster Management Directorate, Cabinet National Platform Country resources
Iraq Ministry of Health and Environment Country resources
Jordan National Centre for Security and Crises Management National Platform Country resources
Kuwait Kuwait Fire Service Directorate Country resources
Lebanon Presidency of the Council of Ministers National Platform Country resources
Libya National Center for Emergency Crises and Disaster Management Country resources
Mauritania Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development National Platform Country resources
Morocco Ministry of Interior National Platform Country resources
Oman Environment Authority National Platform Country resources
Palestine, State of Arab and International Cooperation Unit, Ministry of Interior National Platform Country resources
Qatar Ministry of Interior; The Permanent Committee of Emergency, Ministry of Interior National Platform Country resources
Saudi Arabia Special Civil Defense Emergency Forces National Platform Country resources
Somalia Department for Disaster Risk Management, Somalia Disaster Management Agency National Platform Country resources
Sudan National Council of Civil Defense National Platform Country resources
Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management National Platform Country resources
Tunisia Ministry of Environment and Quality of Life National Platform Country resources
United Arab Emirates National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority National Platform Country resources
Yemen Ministry of Water and Environment Country resources

News and events

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States

Dr. Laila Rashed Iskandar, Egypt's Minister of State for Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements. (Photo: UNISDR)
Update
Egypt moves on slum resilience

Granting property rights to slum dwellers is a key tool for reducing the risk of disasters striking such communities, Egypt’s Minister of State for Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements Laila Rashed Iskandar said today.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States
At the training event, members of the UN Country Team in Algeria show their support for the upcoming World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. (Photo: UN Country Team Algeria)
Update
UN helps Algeria strengthen disaster risk reduction

As the world gears up for the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the UN in Algeria is helping the Government to bolster the safety of communities, in a country that has suffered from a string of devastating earthquakes and repeated floods.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States
Participants in the Tunisia workshop show their support for the upcoming World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. (Photo: UNISDR)
Update
Tunisian municipalities committing to resilience

Municipalities from across Tunisia have stepped up their commitment to make themselves resilient in the face of disaster risk, spurred by Ain Draham, which two years ago was the first community in the North African country to join UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient campaign.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States
Majid Shangab (19) who spoke on behalf of Youth and Children at this week's Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. (Photo: UNISDR)
Update
What Arab youth really want post-2015

One of the high points of this week’s Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction came when a 19-year-old medical student took centre stage to read out a strong declaration on behalf of one of the region’s most endangered groups, children and youth.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States
(from l to r): Amjad Abbashar, Head of UNISDR Regional Office for Arab States, Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General, League of Arab States, and Dr. Sherif Badr, Chairman, the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre. (Photo: UNISDR)
Press release
Arab states seek action on drought and food security

The 19 Arab States meeting in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, this week have made a sweeping series of recommendations for inclusion in the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction which will be adopted next March in Sendai, Japan, at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The Sharm-El-Sheikh declaration calls for a strong focus on water and food security, the effects of climate change and extreme weather events, including drought, on dry lands and arid zones which are home to two billion people around the world.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States
Head of UNISDR Office for Arab States, Amjad Abbashar, talking with keynote speaker on gender, Dr. Widad A. Rahman, Ahfad University, Sudan, and Brian Tisdall, International Committee of the Red Cross. (Photo: UNISDR)
Update
Make women agents for resilience

There were calls today for gender to be mainstreamed into the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction in a major debate on the role of women as change agents for resilience at the 2nd Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States

Events

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Publications

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Activities

Arab Partnership Meeting for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

Following the Sendai Framework guidance, the UNDRR Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) has been organizing coordination meetings to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the region. The most recent declaration, the Rabat Declaration for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2021, which was adopted along with several stakeholder groups’ voluntary action statements during the Arab Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2021, came out as the result of a series of successful coordination meetings ahead of the Regional Platform. Since 2017, the bi-annual Arab Partnership for DRR meetings create a forum for technical and operational deliberation on the progress, challenges, gaps, and solutions in the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the region. These periodic discussions intend to inform the deliberations of the Arab Regional Platform conferences.

The last partnership meeting, held in Bali, Indonesia in May 2022, on the sidelines of the Seventh Session of the Global Platform (GP2022), provided a unique and timely opportunity to showcase the importance of international solidarity and cooperation, address the Midterm Review (MTR) of the Sendai Framework stock take, identify emerging issues, uncover context shifts, and build coherence with other frameworks, to better address the systemic nature of risk. The meeting explored how to strengthen disaster risk governance and how to build stronger systems for managing all types of risks.

Making Cities Resilient Campaign

The "Making Cities Resilient" campaign aims to improve local resilience through advocacy, sharing knowledge and experiences, establishing mutually reinforcing city-to-city learning networks, injecting technical expertise, connecting multiple layers of government, and building partnerships.

The UNDRR’s ROAS works closely with local and national governments, international, regional, and civil society organizations, donors, the private sector, academia, and professional associations as well as every citizen encouraging them to join the journey of reducing disaster risk and building resilience, to achieve the ultimate goal of MCR2030 that is to ensure cities become inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by 2030.

The Regional Assessment Report on DRR in the Arab Region (RAR-Arab States)

The Regional Assessment Report offers an update on progress made in implementing the Sendai Framework’s goals, targets, and priorities while identifying entry points for improving coherence with climate change adaptation, poverty reduction, and sustainable development. It also provides an analysis of region-specific systemic risk drivers, including a contextualized discussion on vulnerability, rapid urbanization, conflict, and food security.

The Arab region is fast approaching the point where it may not be able to mitigate impacts from realized cascading and systemic risk, including the COVID-19 pandemic, superimposed on climate change, conflict, water scarcity, non-sustainable production and consumption patterns, and social vulnerability.

The RAR-Arab States highlights the risk scenario, drivers, and trends and how to adopt approaches based on broad participation and partnerships and to address underlying drivers of risk, such as declining ecosystems, vulnerable rural livelihoods, and badly planned and managed urban development. The RAR-Arab States also highlights the importance of investing in disaster risk reduction and the need to take risk-informed decisions for sustainable development. It helps the national governments, civil society, and other stakeholders through providing strategic policy advices on how to address these challenges.

Sendai Framework Monitoring and DesInventar Sendai

The Sendai Framework Monitor (SFM) functions as a management tool to help countries develop disaster risk reduction strategies, make risk-informed policy decisions, and contribute to Target E of the Sendai Framework related to the development of actionable national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020. A set of 38 indicators, recommended by an Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group (OIEWG), tracks progress in implementing the seven targets of Sendai Framework as well as its related dimensions reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals 1, 11, and 13.

DesInventar Sendai implements all the Indicators and data required for the Monitoring of Targets A to D of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which correspond to parallel Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) indicators from Goals 1, 11, and 13. Among many other new features, it also allows for the definition and use of Sendai Framework metadata to describe several indicators and allow finer disaggregation of data.

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR)

UNDRR ROAS celebrates the IDDRR every year by organizing special panels and events on the regional level, bringing together disaster risk reduction stakeholders to discuss and explore collaborations, challenges, and steps forward towards the implementation of the Sendai Framework, the Arab Strategy for DRR 2030, and the development of national and local DRR strategies.

World Tsunami Day

The UNDRR ROAS commemorates World Tsunami Day by launching social media campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of having plans and policies in place to reduce tsunami impacts and scaling up international cooperation with developing countries, which lead to building more resilience and protecting populations at risk.

Cities becoming more resilient in Arab States

These statistics show live data about municipalities in this region that have joined the Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative. The villages, towns, and cities have made a commitment to move along the resilience roadmap to better protect their citizens.

Contact us

UNDRR Regional Office for Arab States
14 Road 280, Off Laselky Street, Corner of Mashreq Bank
New Maadi, Cairo, Egypt 

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +2 (02) 25229166
Fax: +2 (02) 25164918