Global change – including climate-, land use-, and socio-economic change – is taking place rapidly and will have serious impacts on the world as a whole. The Middle East is a region where climate change impacts on society and the environment are likely to be most severe. For example, regional climate scenarios for the Jordan River region indicate a decrease in precipitation in this highly water-scarce area, together with an increase in extreme weather events. Rapid population growth, increasing urbanisation, and a massive influx of displaced persons are exacerbating these problems by increasing over-exploitation of the scarce land and water resources. Taken together, global change processes will significantly impede agricultural productivity, biodiversity, soil quality, and human well-being in the Jordan River region.

Efficient mitigation and adaptation options are urgently needed. This requires sound scientific knowledge and mechanisms to translate scientific findings into application. Furthermore, in order to plan effectively in face of the above threats, the countries of the region need to share their knowledge, and look together at ways in which limited resources can be used most efficiently and fairly under conditions of global change. In order to help achieve these aims, we have established SAGE, a Regional Centre for Sustainable Adaptation to Global Change in the Middle East.

SAGE will contribute to empowering societies to find science-based solutions to adaptive and sustainable management of natural resources. It will collect, assess and make available data about the current and future situation with regard to regional climate and natural resources.

Overall, SAGE will i) contribute to sharing of and exposure to knowledge and capacity building in relevant disciplines, ii) conduct multilateral and interdisciplinary research on areas of concern and make available cutting-edge research for decision-makers, iii) be a regional resource for national and international bodies concerned with global change, and iv) promote regional cooperation in global change adaptation.

The key measures for achieving these goals are:

1) Establishment of an interdisciplinary and international Master Certificate in Global Change Studies that is delivered by a regional and international consortium of eminent scientists.
2) Establishment of a PhD School related to regional climate change and resource management that meets international standards for PhD training.
3) Development of a research agenda for the PhD via a continuous science-stakeholder dialogue that serves to co-design, co-produce and co-disseminate research jointly among scientists and stakeholders.
4) Development of a regional and international information hub for issues related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as transboundary resource management.
5) Development and implementation of resource-friendly means of international cooperation in education and research, following the RRR (reduce-replace-refine) principle.

SAGE is one of four international Climate Centres funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Its main host is the An Najah National University. SAGE is coordinated by the University of Tübingen, Germany. SAGE closely cooperates with the other DAAD Climate Centres in South America, Africa and Asia and thus benefits from a broad international perspective.