Abstract

Time to replicate the ‘mobile miracle’ in broadband

Geneva, 5 March 2012 – New figures released today at ITU’s Connect Arab Summit in Doha, Qatar show that information and communication technology (ICT) uptake continues to accelerate across the Arab region, but underline the need for more effort to be put into rolling out broadband infrastructure to meet burgeoning demand from a young, tech-savvy population.

Summary

Executive Summary

The complexity of humanitarian challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) historically derives from the pre-existing causes- the long running conflict, instability and displacement in the Middle East as well as vulnerabilities related to natural disasters and socio-economic factors in most parts of the region. The humanitarian consequences of the recent civil unrest have exacerbated the situation across the region especially for the most vulnerable with minimal coping capacities.

By Berta Acero

CAIRO, 23 November 2011 – The League of Arab States (LAS) and UNISDR move one step closer to a plan of action on disaster risk reduction for the Arab region. The action plan is expected to be endorsed at the first-ever Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Arab region planned for 2012.

Holding a series of consultations with disaster risk reduction experts in the region, UNISDR and LAS are developing the ‘Programme of Action’ to implement the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020.

The discussions in this booklet aim to address the complexity of risk in the Arab region, and present some tools which can be used by local governments, civil society and other institutions working in the field of environment and disaster risk reduction. In the Arab region the effects of human behavior on the environment has caused a growing concern since the early 1980s and from the end of the same decade the question of climate change has gradually received more attention.

At the working dinner of the Deauville G8 Summit on May 26, the Summit leaders exchanged views over the Middle East and North African situation.

Few observers would have predicted the dramatic changes over the past few months in the Arab world. Arab governments appeared to be in tight control, and many Arab economies were growing around or above the world average over the past few years. Annual growth rates in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, and Sudan averaged more than 6 percent between 2005 and 2010; and Syria, Tunisia, and Libya grew at about 5 percent on average during the same period of time. Official poverty rates in most Arab countries are lower than in many Asian and Latin American countries.

AMMAN, 10 May 2011 – UNICEF said today that although a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have made considerable progress towards improving the health of mothers and children, disparities within these countries persist, making this progress inequitable.