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Risks and capability

Four regional risk objects open the portfolio. Order carries no rank. Each is read across driver, exposure, vulnerability, capacity, cascade and consequence; loss metrics are added only where they can be modelled.

5 min read0 figures1 table15 notesNR-REGIONAL-MEN-2026-BASELINE

Contents
  1. ·Edition home
  2. ·Executive summary
  3. 1MENA’s risk is carried by power, water and one export route
  4. 2Key findings
  5. 3Systems and sectors at baseline
  6. 4Risks and capability
    1. 4.1 Risk objects
    2. 4.2 Capability ladder
  7. 5Hot season with peak desalination load and a disrupted export route
  8. 6Readings from the other desks
  9. 7The 2027 agenda
  10. 8Systems in depth
  11. AMethodology
  12. BData appendix
  13. CReferences and record
  14. ·Complete edition, for print

4.1Risk objects

Each risk is read across the chain from hazard to consequence, with its status and evidence-quality level.

  1. InferredEQL 3RSK-MEN-CLI-001

    Extreme heat during pilgrimage and peak demand

    Driver
    heat waves in the hot season
    Exposure
    pilgrims, outdoor workers, migrants in labour housing
    Vulnerability
    shelter and rest access; workforce data not bound
    Capacity
    health services and pilgrimage management; performance not bound19
    Cascade
    CLI → HLT → ENE peak
    Horizon
    seasonal

  2. InferredEQL 3RSK-MEN-WAT-002

    Desalination and groundwater dependence

    Driver
    high demand, loss of power or fuel, damage or contamination at intakes
    Exposure
    cities and industry on the coast
    Vulnerability
    storage depth and plant concentration not bound
    Capacity
    water authorities53; performance not bound
    Cascade
    WAT ← ENE; WAT → HLT, FOO
    Horizon
    1–5 years

  3. Expert inputEQL 2RSK-MEN-ENE-003

    Energy asset damage and export-route loss

    Driver
    attack, route closure or a fuel supply fault
    Exposure
    power, desalination, public finance
    Vulnerability
    bypass capacity and spare generation not bound
    Capacity
    operators and authorities; post-close, context only: the IMF notes rerouting of critical supplies34
    Cascade
    TRD → ENE → FIN, WAT
    Horizon
    1–5 years

  4. ReportedEQL 4RSK-MEN-FIN-004

    Fuel-export shock to public budgets

    Driver
    volume and price shock on fuel exports
    Exposure
    budgets, banks, households
    Vulnerability
    Saudi deficit projected at 6.5% of GDP in 202631
    Capacity
    fiscal buffers; post-close, context only: the IMF advises temporary and targeted support34
    Cascade
    FIN → ENE, WAT, HLT services
    Horizon
    1–2 years

4.2Capability ladder

Existence is not readiness. Each of the fifteen capability functions is placed on the ladder by the strongest public evidence at the regional level, from a policy listing to performance in real events.

Table 4.1Capabilities on the ladder of evidence: listed, exists, demonstrated, tested
FunctionRungLevelStrongest public evidence at baseline
Prevention and mitigationLISTEDnational net zero targets and the COP28 decision exist484950; delivery not bound
Monitoring and observationEXISTSWorld Bank, IMF and WMO series are published52920
Early warningNOT BOUNDsource: national weather and civil protection services · blocker: not retrieved
Preparedness and planningLISTEDnational plans listed4849; delivery not bound
Redundancy and reservesNOT BOUNDsource: fuel, water and food reserve registers · blocker: not retrieved
ResponseNOT BOUNDsource: after-action records for heat and flood events · blocker: not retrieved
Continuity of critical servicesNOT BOUNDsource: utilities and operators · blocker: not retrieved; post-close, context only: the IMF notes rerouting of critical supplies34
RecoveryNOT BOUNDsource: recovery agency and insurer records · blocker: not retrieved
AdaptationLISTEDwater supply from desalination and renewable build-out are reported149; heat adaptation not bound
Social protectionNOT BOUNDsource: income-support and disaster-payment records · blocker: not reviewed
Finance and insuranceNOT BOUNDsource: insurer and reinsurer loss data · blocker: not retrieved; fiscal buffers are in31
Institutional coordinationLISTEDa Gulf grid interconnection authority is listed52; performance not bound
Technical infrastructureNOT BOUNDsource: asset-condition registers · blocker: not published
WorkforceNOT BOUNDsource: health and emergency workforce registers · blocker: not retrieved
Research capacityEXISTScompound-event and nexus research is published5455
A capability listed in policy is not a tested one; each rung is the strongest public evidence at baseline.

Notes

Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references

  1. 19Gulf News (ed.), Hajj 2024: Saudi Arabia says 1,301 deaths, mostly unregistered pilgrims (report of the Saudi Minister of Health announcement and the Saudi Press Agency, 23 June 2024; 83% unauthorised; no cause breakdown on the page). Gulf News, Dubai. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  2. 53UNVERIFIED, not opened: Saudi Water Authority (ed.), annual statistics on desalination production (not read; the earlier corporation name was used in search results). SWA, Riyadh. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  3. 34POST-CLOSE, context only: International Monetary Fund (ed.), Managing Director’s remarks at the meeting of the Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors of the Gulf Cooperation Council, 1 October 2026 (GCC economy expected to contract in 2026; near closure of Hormuz sharply curtailed oil and gas exports; damage to energy facilities reduced production capacity). IMF, Washington DC. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  4. 31DATA VINTAGE AFTER CLOSE: International Monetary Fund (ed.), General government net lending and borrowing, and gross debt, % of GDP (GGXCNL_NGDP, GGXWDG_NGDP), Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, World Economic Outlook database, October 2026, DataMapper interface. IMF, Washington DC. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  5. 48UNVERIFIED, not opened: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (ed.), Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030 (the page returned access refused; listed from memory as a published national instrument, no figure used). Vision 2030 Office, Riyadh. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  6. 49UNVERIFIED, not opened: United Arab Emirates Government (ed.), UAE Net Zero 2050 strategic initiative (the page returned not found; listed from memory as a published national instrument, no figure used). UAE Government, Abu Dhabi. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  7. 50UNVERIFIED, not opened: UNFCCC (ed.), Decision 1/CMA.5, outcome of the first global stocktake, the UAE Consensus (listed from memory; no text read). UNFCCC Secretariat, Bonn. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  8. 5DATA VINTAGE AFTER CLOSE: World Bank (ed.), Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF, Mt CO2e (EN.GHG.ALL.MT.CE.AR5), Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, World Development Indicators database, last updated 2026-10-08. World Bank, Washington DC. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  9. 29DATA VINTAGE AFTER CLOSE: International Monetary Fund (ed.), Real GDP growth, annual percent change (NGDP_RPCH), Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, World Economic Outlook database, October 2026, DataMapper interface. IMF, Washington DC. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  10. 20World Meteorological Organization (ed.), Rising temperatures and extreme weather hit Asia hard (press release on the State of the Climate in Asia 2024, 23 June 2025; 1.04 °C above 1991 to 2020; 259.5 mm in 24 hours in the United Arab Emirates). WMO, Geneva. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  11. 14Arab News Pakistan (ed.), Saudi Arabia boosts desalinated water supply to 50% in Vision 2030 push (press report of the General Authority for Statistics water accounts, 5 January 2025; desalinated water 50% of distributed supply in 2023, 44% in 2022). Arab News. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  12. 9Zawya Projects (ed.), Saudi Arabia renewables capacity jumps 87% to 12.3GW in 2025 (press report on IRENA capacity statistics; 12,332 MW). Zawya, Dubai. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  13. 52UNVERIFIED, not opened: Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (ed.), GCC power grid interconnection (listed from memory; capacity and flows not read). GCCIA, Dammam. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  14. 54UNVERIFIED, not opened: H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.), Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC. IPCC, Geneva, 2023. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  15. 55UNVERIFIED, not opened: J. Zscheischler, S. Westra, B. J. J. M. van den Hurk et al., “Future climate risk from compound events,” Nature Climate Change, vol. 8, pp. 469–477, 2018. Observation year 2018. Accessed 2026-11-03.back

Cite this chapter

Valadbaygi, S. (Ed.). (2026). Chapter 4: Risks and capability. In MENA Regional Systems Risk and Resilience Report 2026: Baseline Edition, The State of MENA’s Interdependent Systems. (Baseline Edition 2026, Report No. NR-REGIONAL-MEN-2026-BASELINE) [Draft under review]. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI).

Every citation form of the whole report, BibTeX and RIS included, is on the edition home. Cite this report

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