A Saudi-led initiative aids the study of climate change’s potential impact on food security

An Ethiopian pastoralist tends to his herd. (Supplied/ILRI)
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Updated 31 October 2021
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A Saudi-led initiative aids the study of climate change’s potential impact on food security

  • As world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26, data and technology are being used to prepare for climate shocks 
  • In September Community Jameel announced the creation of the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action

DUBAI: A Saudi-based organization has partnered with leading researchers and humanitarian agencies to harness the power of data and technology in the hope of preventing climate shocks from causing hunger among vulnerable livestock-farming communities.

Community Jameel announced in September the creation of the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action to help tackle the growing threat to such communities from increasingly severe and frequent climate-related disasters.

Its launch coincided with preparations for COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, which begins in Glasgow on Sunday. World leaders will gather in the Scottish city to discuss collective action on carbon emissions, fossil fuels and other efforts to prevent global temperatures rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The new venture combines the expertise of five partners, including the University of Edinburgh, the International Livestock Research Institute, Save the Children, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and Community Jameel.

Rising temperatures mean droughts are becoming more frequent, depriving livestock of reliable water sources and turning once lush pasture into desert. By recording changes at a local level, the observatory aims to help communities adapt and adjust before disaster strikes.

“Community Jameel has for a long time been focused on the question of food security and, particularly, how climate change puts pressure on access to safe and plentiful food,” George Richards, Community Jameel’s director, told Arab News. “But we gradually saw an increase in need and pressure on access to food, as a result of increasing pressures from climate change.”

Community Jameel, an international non-governmental organization, was launched to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues using an approach grounded in evidence, science, data and technology. In 2014, it established an institution at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab, that focuses on developing new technologies and solutions for clean water and food security.

“We went back to our roots and thought about how we can support researchers and scientists who are using data and science effectively to monitor, forecast and give early warnings about outbreaks of hunger, famine and other drivers of malnutrition, particularly where those are the result of climate change,” Richards said.




Ethiopian pastoralists tends their herd. (Supplied/ILRI)

The observatory partnership combines cutting-edge technology and data surveillance to detect the early-warning signs of severe weather events and systemic climate change with community-driven applications and interventions.

The Jameel Observatory is collaborating with agencies that work with farmers to develop and apply digital and analytical tools that can help farmers shape their own food security, nutrition and livelihoods.

Researchers plan to use community-level data along with satellites, drones, weather data and remote sensing to understand, prepare for and mitigate the likely effects of climate shocks.

The observatory’s first project aims to fill the evidence gaps that currently prevent effective forecast-based action to protect livelihoods and nutrition in parts of East Africa.

As climate change takes center stage at COP26, a sharp focus has been placed on the need to be fully prepared for the vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses triggered by the changing climate.

With drylands accounting for about 40 percent of the world’s land mass, many communities are at risk from fluctuating rainfall, drought, rising temperatures and land degradation.

“In a world increasingly impacted by climate change, forecasting the impact of droughts and severe weather on hunger and malnutrition, and acting early to stop lives from being lost, is of urgent importance,” Joanne Grace, head of hunger and livelihoods at humanitarian organization Save the Children, told Arab News.

“Getting it right would be monumental for the health of children for decades to come. The Jameel Observatory aims to help ensure that acting early to prevent food crises becomes the norm rather than the exception.”

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, dryland ecosystems are home to about 25 percent of the global population, contain half of the world’s livestock and 27 percent of its forests, while storing 30 percent of soil organic carbon and supplying about 60 percent of food production.

However, climate change is resulting in longer periods of drought and accelerated desertification in drylands. This is affecting biodiversity and vegetation cover, which in turn reduces soil fertility and undermines food, nutrition and human security.

“Climate change can therefore push already fragile ecosystems and local communities beyond coping capacity, resulting in forced displacement, increased migration, and tensions related to natural resource access and use,” the FAO said in a paper launched at the UN Food Systems Summit in New York in September.




A farmers havests leafy vegetables in a field on the mountain range of Jabel Jais, in Ras Al Khaimah, on January 24, 2021. (AFP/File Photo)

The Jameel Observatory examines the relationship between climate change and health to try to mitigate the threat from rising temperatures as a driver of hunger and famine. The organization has partnered with Aeon, a Riyadh-based think tank, to coordinate and convene researchers in Saudi Arabia and internationally to examine this relationship.

“There is a lot of external research about the risks that accelerating climate change will impose, particularly in places that have climates which are naturally hot and humid, including the Gulf,” Richards said.

“What they call the rise of the ‘wet-bulb temperature,’ which is the combined measure of heat and humidity, could make parts of the Gulf uninhabitable in a few years. But there is very little research that is actually done by or with researchers in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.”

That is why the initiative has also brought together researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, MIT, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, the Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab, and Imperial College in London to untangle the relationship between health and climate change in the GCC area. Their findings are expected in April 2022.

In parallel, Community Jameel will be co-hosting an event in the Saudi Pavilion at COP26 in partnership with Aeon, at which researchers will present some of their interim findings. Along with the Jameel Observatory, it will also welcome representatives of organizations from Nairobi, the UK and the US, in collaboration with Cooking Sections, an arts duo based in London who were nominated for the 2021 Turner Prize.

“Their arts practice is focused on the question of food and sustainability,” Richards said. “So Community Jameel, Cooking Sections and Michelin Star chefs are coming together to co-curate a culinary gastronomic experience to emphasize the importance of sustainable food systems, which is at the core of what the Jameel Observatory is trying to do in terms of leveraging data to make food systems more efficient and mitigate the risks of outbreaks of famine and hunger.”




Rising temperatures mean droughts are becoming more frequent, depriving livestock of reliable water sources and turning once lush pasture into desert. (AFP/File Photo)

Richards also highlighted the opening season of Hayy Jameel, Art Jameel’s new hub in Jeddah that is due to open on Dec. 6, which will have a strong focus on questions relating to food.

“There is something so fundamental to the way that human society tends to construct itself around food, that even the most basic act of community is centered around breaking bread or the joint meal together,” he said.

“And, as we face greater challenges, whether it’s from the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change, there is an ever-greater need for humanity to lock hands and work together to tackle those challenges.

“For us, it’s really in our name. We are all about community and we feel that food is at the heart of that community. So making sure that people everywhere have access to safe and plentiful food is really at our core.”

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Twitter: @CalineMalek


Riyadh man faces prosecution for selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals

Updated 59 min 9 sec ago
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Riyadh man faces prosecution for selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals

  • SFDA said that violations pose a great risk to the health and safety of consumers
  • SFDA also requested the public’s cooperation by reporting any observable violations

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has referred the representative of a commercial establishment in Riyadh to the Public Prosecution after he was found to be involved in the sale of a counterfeit pharmaceutical product.

The act is a direct violation of the Pharmaceutical and Herbal Establishments and Products Law in the Kingdom, which mandates a penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of SR10 million ($2.6 million), the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The SFDA highlighted the importance of strictly adhering to the laws and regulations put in place to ensure the safety and quality of products circulating in the Saudi market.

The authority said that violations pose a great risk to the health and safety of consumers, warranting the enforcement of legal penalties against offenders.

The SFDA also requested the public’s cooperation by reporting any observable violations in establishments under its supervision to the toll-free line 19999, in an effort to strengthen oversight and safeguard public health.


Saudi students display robotic inventions at Robocon 2025

Updated 08 May 2025
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Saudi students display robotic inventions at Robocon 2025

  • Event was attended by student inventors, investors and technology companies
  • Several panel discussions focused on ways in which robotics can affect society

RIYADH: Saudi students displayed their robotic inventions at King Abdulaziz University Robocon 2025, which was held at the university’s King Faisal Convention Center from Tuesday to Thursday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Organized by the university’s Deanship of Student Affairs, the event was attended by student inventors, investors and technology companies.

Saudi student Samar Awad Al-Rabi, from the Faculty of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences at King Abdulaziz University, presented a smart temperature-monitoring device, aimed at protecting sensitive environments from sudden thermal changes.

Rania Al-Mukhtar Al-Sheikh, from Taibah University, presented an innovative treatment for dry macular degeneration, an eye disease that affects vision.

The device treats and repairs damaged cells, reduces inflammation, and improves bloodflow without damaging healthy tissues with the hope of restoring or improving vision.

Exhibition activities included a range of qualitative competitions, including the “Saqr” competition, which is the first engineering competition focused on drone technologies.

In another competition — the Robocup —robots battled it out on a miniature football pitch.

The event also featured the launch of the innovtech Hackathon, a coding challenge that will include four main tracks focusing on technology in education, tourism, manufacturing and the financial sector.

Several panel discussions focused on ways in which robotics can affect society — including one titled Turning Point: Transforming Tech Ideas into Successful Projects, which explored how to market technological inventions.

The exhibition offered a range of interactive experiences, including virtual reality exhibits and practical workshops that contributed to the skill development of participants.

An interactive game invited attendees to collect stamps from different attractions to win a prize, and visitors were served Arabic coffee by robots.

The university said that the event reflects its vision of empowering students and building a generation that will lead the future of robotics and smart technologies.


KAUST researchers join Africa marine research expedition

Updated 08 May 2025
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KAUST researchers join Africa marine research expedition

  • Mission began in Moroni, Comoros, with the team sailing south through the Indian Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa
  • Researchers focused on assessing biodiversity at several seamounts — underwater mountain formations

RIYADH: Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology joined the Saudi non-profit foundation OceanQuest on its first marine expedition around Africa aboard the research vessel OceanXplorer.

The mission began in Moroni, Comoros, with the team sailing south through the Indian Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa.

Researchers focused on assessing biodiversity at several seamounts — underwater mountain formations.

A second phase, designed for early-career oceanographers, proceeded north to Walvis Bay in Namibia before concluding scientific operations in Mindelo, Cabo Verde.

The KAUST research team, comprising two PhD candidates from the Marine Microbiome Lab and one from Earth Science and Engineering, conducted research in biodiversity assessment, seamount studies and chemical analysis.

The team compared seamount formation in the Indian Ocean with similar geological phenomena in Saudi waters.


Ministry of Tourism inspects hospitality facilities ahead of Hajj

Saudi Arabia’s tourism ministry conducted an inspection of Hajj hospitality facilities. (SPA)
Updated 08 May 2025
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Ministry of Tourism inspects hospitality facilities ahead of Hajj

  • Al-Mazyad is assessing whether preparations and procedures of multiple hospitality establishments are following the tourism law and its executive regulations

RIYADH: Deputy Minister of Licensing and Classification at the Ministry of Tourism Abdulmuhsen Al-Mazyad has been conducting field tours of hospitality facilities in Makkah to ensure readiness for receiving pilgrims during the Hajj season.

Al-Mazyad is assessing whether preparations and procedures of multiple hospitality establishments are following the tourism law and its executive regulations.

The deputy minister is especially concerned about whether these establishments have obtained the proper operational licensing from the Ministry of Tourism.

As part of its efforts to grow sustainable partnerships with the tourism sector, the ministry’s delegation has also sat with hospitality investors and operators at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce.

Enhancing the quality of service in Makkah and the rest of the Kingdom, managing hardships faced by investors and operators, and the ministry’s commitment to combating those hardships, have all been discussed during the meetings.


Thunderstorms expected across Saudi Arabia until Sunday

Updated 08 May 2025
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Thunderstorms expected across Saudi Arabia until Sunday

  • Makkah province is expected to see moderate to heavy rainfall with potential flash floods, hail, and dust-stirring winds
  • Riyadh province will also experience light to moderate rainfall, flash floods, hail, and dust-stirring winds

RIYADH: Thunderstorms are expected across most of Saudi Arabia throughout the weekend until Sunday, according to the General Directorate of Civil Defense.

Makkah province is expected to see moderate to heavy rainfall with potential flash floods, hail, and dust-stirring winds, affecting areas like Taif, Maysan, Al-Muwayh, Turbah, Al-Khurmah and Ranyah.

Riyadh province will also experience light to moderate rainfall, flash floods, hail, and dust-stirring winds, affecting areas including Afif, Al-Dawadmi, Al-Quwayiyah, and Shaqra.

Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected in Jazan, Aseer, Al-Baha, and Madinah regions, with moderate rain in Hail and light to moderate rain in Najran and Qassim.

The directorate advised caution, avoiding flood-prone areas such as valleys, and refraining from swimming in them.

It also encouraged staying informed about the latest weather updates through official media channels and social media platforms.