MINARET II - Empowering Municipal Governance for Climate Resilience Using WEF Nexus Approach
MINARET “The MENA Region Initiative as a model of the NEXUS Approach and Renewable Energy Technologies”, launched its phase II under “Empowering Municipal Governance for Climate Resilience Using WEF Nexus Approach” with the support of GIZ and through a close collaboration with Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme (NRDP) MENA. The project is implemented at municipal level by the Royal Scientific Society – Amman and is targeting Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia. The Project is the first of its kind in the region that utilizes a nexus approach to address the unique sustainability challenges and opportunities that face each of the countries from a local municipal level with regards to water, energy and food security. The Project facilitates dialogue between the experts and players from the public and private sector in renewable energy, sustainable development, water, climate change, and many more sectors. Stakeholders from all around the region discuss and plan together how to overcome the increasing constraints their countries and the region faces through fundamentally rethinking how we produce and consume energy in relation to the water and food sectors.
MINARET II aims to improve people’s lives by helping municipal governments to secure the funds and develop the skills they need to deliver high-quality public services, in particular with regard to natural resources management. It is structured of three components, which of the first component is Climate resilient municipalities: Membership in Covenant of Mayors – Strengthening municipal capacities to plan and manage climate change adaptation and mitigation measures (development of SECAP).
On an international scale, the Project is drawing the attention of experts, stakeholders and decision makers, this is because it tackles many of the world’s priority challenges and initiatives such as the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) under the Framework of the EU- Covenant of Mayors (CoM). The project also addresses six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 5- Gender equality, SDG 6- Water, SDG 7- Affordable and clean energy, SDG 11-Sustainable cities and communities, SDG 13- Climate action and SDG 17- Partnership for the Goals. It is also because the Project utilizes the latest and most relevant framework of action worldwide. That is: the renewable energy, energy efficiency, water management and efficiency, and food security sectors are interlinked. Therefore, we must leverage existing synergies, bridge the gap, and bring together key stakeholders from across those sectors to achieve simultaneous gains in all those sectors at once.