Several countries of the Region suffer from political conflicts; natural disasters; recurrent droughts, floods and outbreaks of trans-boundary plant pests and animal diseases; forest and rangeland degradation; desertification and loss of biodiversity. To address these problems, RNE supports Member Countries to:

• Prepare methodologies and databases to assist national decision makers with substantiated predictive capacity for certain disaster occurrence, preparedness, mitigation, impact assessment, and disaster management;

• Improve national capacity development in methodologies for assessment of vulnerability and risk analysis;

• Provide disaster areas with emergency relief and humanitarian assistance, and to support rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure; and

• Formulate and implement national strategies in the transition from relief and rehabilitation to sustainable agricultural development and food security.

Within this priority area, special attention will be given to drought preparedness and action plans, and to control transboundary plant pests and animal diseases, such as Desert Locust and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).