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AMMAN - Climate change adaptation measures should be integrated into national policies, while the Kingdom's infrastructure should be designed to reduce the impact of the phenomenon on natural resources, experts said on Sunday.

Jordan must take its climate change adaptation measures to the national level, particularly since the country faces critical environmental challenges and is already a victim of climate change, they noted.
Environment and meteorological experts from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region made the recommendations during a training workshop on climate change adaptation and mitigation.
"At the national level, all infrastructure must be built with climate change in mind... and we must support activities enhancing the agriculture, water, sanitation and renewable energy sectors," General Manger of Ben Hayyan Laboratories Aiman Oklat said at the opening session.
He underscored that the impact of climate change on water availability in Jordan is expected to create health challenges, noting that addressing water scarcity in Jordan is a government priority.
"International studies have reported that regions with already scarce water resources, including MENA, will suffer more from water scarcity. Increasing temperatures, coupled with changing precipitation patterns are expected to decrease surface water resources," Oklat said during the event.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation's (WMO) Status of the Global Climate in 2010, 2001-2010 has been the warmest decade on record, since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850.
"Over this decade, warming was markedly more pronounced in some regions, notably so in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia and the Arctic," the WMO statement said.
The Middle East, one of the driest regions in the world, will witness shifting rainfall patterns due to climate change which will result in less freshwater for the region's growing population, according to recent reports.
As experts predict effects of climate change to start affecting the region within 50-100 years, reports indicate that Jordan, among other countries including the Palestinian territories and Israel, are already experiencing changes.
Sponsored by the Swedish International Development Agency, the six-day workshop is organised by the Swedish Meteorology and Hydrology Institute, Ben Hayyan Laboratories and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority.