Country
Oman
Explore historical and projected climate data, climate data by sector, impacts, key vulnerabilities and what adaptation measures are being taken. Explore the overview for a general context of how climate change is affecting Oman.
Vulnerability
Oman is vulnerable to flooding, cyclones, sand and dust storms, and drought.
This section allows you to explore the susceptibility of livelihoods and natural systems to impacts of climate variability and change and facilitate the exploration of socioeconomic and development data and its relationships with natural hazards vulnerable areas
Natural Hazard Statistics
The charts provide overview of the most frequent natural disaster in a given country and understand the impacts of those disasters on human populations.
Natural Hazard / Development Nexus
This tool allows the overlay of different natural hazard maps with social economic datasets by sliding the bar horizontally, which provides a broad sense of vulnerable areas.
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Key Vulnerabilities
- Rainfall in winter tends to be sudden with short bursts that cause flash flooding. Seasonal heavy rains and cyclones also result in flooding, causing serious damage to urban settlements and infrastructure.
- Oman has, in recent years, witnessed some of the worst sand and dust storms on record, which are mainly caused by summer winds and mostly affect the desert and interior dry lands during droughts.
- Oman’s climate is characterized by low and erratic rainfall, high temperatures and occasional storms that result in drifting of sand, desert encroachment and soil erosion, which lead to drought conditions.
- In the recent past, Oman has experienced a number of destructive floods and the Sultanate’s capital Muscat has been one of the most impacted areas during heavy rainfall and strong wave events.
- Overgrazing mainly to the south is also accelerating desertification, which is most acute in the Batinah, Sharqiyah and Salalah regions. Excessive grazing by camels is responsible for the disappearance of greenery in some areas of Salalah.
More information on natural hazards can be found at ThinkHazard.
- Increase in sea level and floods might increase coastal erosion, affecting people and marine ecosystems along the coast.
- Increased over-extraction of groundwater may increase saline intrusion.
- Salinity increase in wells and surface irrigation are likely to limit agricultural production.
- Increase in temperatures along with a decrease in rainfall might lead to more severe droughts.
