UNESCWA Climate change on water 2010-2017 - UNESCWA Climate change on water 2010-2013 UNESCWA Klimatförändringar/Vattenresurser 2010-2017 The objectives of the project presented by UNESCWA are to assess the impact of climate change on freshwater resources in the Arab region through a consultative and integrated regional initiative that seeks to identify the socio-economic and environmental vulnerability caused by climate change. Målet för insatsen är att baserat på en regionspecifik klimatmodell göra en bedömning av klimatförändringarnas påverkan på                färskvattenresurserna i Mellanöstern och Nordafrika. I insatsen ingår även en socio-ekonomisk riskbedömning. UNESCWA står för projektledning. The core component of the UNESCWA project RICCAR aimed to assess the impact of climate change on freshwater resources in the Arab Region through a consultative and integrated methodological framework to identify the socio-economic and environmental vulnerability caused by climate change impacts on water resources in the region. The project also included the analysis of extreme weather events, with the aim to inform and build the capacity of Arab States to better predict, project and examine extreme weather events and climate-related disasters in the region. 
The project was launched in 2010. An agreement was signed with Sida in December 2010 and amended in December 2011 to include additional activities. The project was initially designed as a three-year project with a budget of US$ 4,100 000. Since then, the terms of implementation and validity was extended four times, no additional funding beside accrued interest. The validity of the activity period was finally extended until December 2019. The continuation of the project has now been absorbed into the Sida - UNESCWA agreement under the REGEND contribution #10798.
The project was led by UNESCWA and implemented in partnership with the League of Arab States (LAS), Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD),Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The core project sought to achieve the following immediate objectives: (a) Establishment of a regional knowledge hub for climate and water resource information and modelling in the Arab region;(b) Identification of expected climate change impacts on water resources in the Arab region and associated vulnerability hotspots;(c) Improved capacity and institutional networking for climate change and water resource monitoring and adaptation;(d) Increased awareness and access to information about climate change impacts on water resources in the Arab region; and(e) Identification and analysis of projected extreme events in the Arab region.