The report, launched last week in Rabat at an event organized with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), underlines that greater investment in a knowledge-economy model will be needed to meet the job creation challenge common to the region.

“We hope this report can help countries of the Arab world imagine a new kind of development strategy with a knowledge and innovation-driven model at its very heart,” said Inger Andersen, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank. “The report lays out helpfully how this approach can help Arab countries diversify their economies and innovate, creating new enterprises and jobs.”

The new report suggests that the extent of change will depend in good part on how well the knowledge economy takes hold throughout the region. Creating jobs entails more investment in knowledge-related sectors and new emphasis on how to develop competitive, productive, and sustainable economies.

Many Arab countries have made progress over the last decade in terms of rolling out education access and information and communication technologies (ICT), gradually improving the institutional environment for private-sector led growth.

Morocco and Tunisia have worked to support innovation, especially through the creation of technoparks and industrial zones that have attracted foreign direct investment and advanced manufacturing operations.Jordan has embarked on a major effort to transform the education system at the early childhood, basic, and secondary levels to produce graduates with the skills needed for the knowledge economy. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched a host of education reforms and has invested in the development of new universities, especially to boost science and technology.

The report describes how engaging in a knowledge-economy model involves the implementation of a number of key cross-sectoral reforms that can create an incentivizing environment for innovation and growth. This would require the adoption of a combination of policies, including developing more open and entrepreneurial economies, preparing a more skilled labor force, improving innovation and research capabilities, and expanding information and communication technologies (ICT) and their applications.

Knowledge transfer is another important piece of the knowledge-economy model, essential in organizing, creating and disseminating knowledge, especially through foreign direct investments and international trade in goods and services. Managing knowledge, the report argues, is a critical driver for enhancing productivity that in turn offers higher and sustainable economic growth. The study also shows that regional integration can be a positive asset to develop a stronger knowledge-economy development model in MENA, helping to expand trade and develop more efficient labor markets.

In addition to structural reforms, the report recommends that governments in the region should establish appropriate conditions for the development of specific promising sectors and sites that can generate new activities and jobs. The development of dynamic “growth spots” would help to create trust and confidence in the new economic model and therefore attract investments, economic activities and enhance knowledge sharing and innovation.

Anuja Utz, CMI Task Team Leader and main contributor to the report said its approach reflects the rich differences in challenges and opportunities across the MENA region. “Given the diversity of the Arab world, the study does not provide a cookie-cutter approach.” she said. “It offers examples of good practice from countries around the world and policy recommendations to help guide efforts, which should be customized to the specific circumstances of each country.”

The report: Transforming Arab Economies: Traveling the Knowledge and Innovation Road was launched at a high-level international conference at the headquarters of ISESCO in Rabat on June 4-5, 2013. Participants from governments, the private sector and the civil society will discuss concrete actions to move forward to a knowledge economy in their national contexts as well as within the Arab world and the Mediterranean.

The information portal known as the Africa Adaptation Knowledge Network (AAKNet), launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), will serve as a hub for knowledge, research, successful initiatives and collaborative partnerships on climate change adaptation.

“It builds on ongoing efforts around the continent to mobilize existing knowledge and provide robust solutions to the major impact of climate change on lives and livelihoods in Africa,” the UN agency stated in a news release.

Disasters such as severe droughts in the Sahel in 2012 and the Horn of Africa in 2011, noted UNEP, have brought into sharp focus the serious impacts on water, land, soil and other resources linked to climate change on the continent, and the need to build resilience to such pressures.

Global warming is expected to pose serious challenges to sustainable development, particularly as most African economies depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as water, agriculture, fisheries, energy and tourism.

“Yet the region lacks the capacity and resources needed to face the challenges of climate change – a problem that could have major economic consequences,” stated UNEP.

The AAKNet aims to support climate change adaptation in Africa by providing services such as aggregating knowledge in addressing pertinent climatic risks and sharing information across regions and countries, and providing tailored support to countries in developing strategic planning processes for climate change adaptation.

It also seeks to build partnerships with governments, research bodies, non-governmental organizations and others, with the aim of supporting climate change response. To reach those directly affected by climate change, the AAKNet initiative will also conduct workshops with community organizations, farmers, and other groups, to share knowledge and practical advice.

The initiative comes as countries continue their negotiations at the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar, hoping to reach agreements on issues such as the way forward on climate finance, a response to the widening emissions gap, and an extension of the Kyoto Protocol.

Under the 1997 Protocol, whose first commitment period expires at the end of 2012, 37 States – consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy – have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments.

Today at the conference, which brings together the 195 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the parent treaty of the Kyoto Protocol, participants underlined their commitment to a range of priority actions, reviewed progress and pledged to re-double efforts to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs).

Six new countries – Chile, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Maldives, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea – today joined an international effort aimed at fast action on reducing black carbon, methane, some hydrofluorocarbons and other SLCPs.

This brings to almost 50 the number of partners in the Climate and Clean Air Coalition – a voluntary initiative aimed at maximizing the health, agricultural and climate benefits of swift action on SLCPs.

Fast action on black carbon and methane have the potential to slow a global temperature rise by up to 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, reduce air pollution-related deaths by as much as 2.4 million and crop losses by around 30 million tonnes annually, UNEP said in a news release.

Scientific assessments indicate that the near-term benefits in places like the Arctic and on glaciers in mountain regions could be even higher, it added.

The Coalition, which was launched initially by six founding countries and UNEP in February this year, is already acting on several fronts. Among other actions, it is supporting an initial group of 10 major cities, including Rio de Janeiro, Lagos, Stockholm, Accra and New York, to accelerate methane reductions from landfills and black carbon or ‘soot’ from burning wastes.