Climate Change and the Middle East

 

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today. Rising global temperatures will bring changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and an increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The effects will be felt here in the Middle East and internationally and there may be severe problems for people in regions that are particularly vulnerable to change. This dossier collects a number of articles, documents, reports and links that appear helpful to understand the impact of Climate Change on the region, and to raise awareness for the remedies that exist.

Click here for the Arabic Version of this dossier

 
 

 New Finance for Climate Change and the Environment

Northern donors have pledged billions of dollars in new financial commitments funds are to be delivered through no fewer than a dozen new environmental funding mechanisms seeking to mitigate these risks and to help the most vulnerable to adapt to coming societal and environmental changes.

A publication prepared by WWF and the Heinrich Böll Foundation

 

Interview with Climate Change Activist

A vivid Arabic NGO position presented by Wael Hmaidan on the negotiations of COP 14 in Poznan and on sustainable energy in the Arab countries. Taped on December 03, 2008 at the COP 14 in Poznan, Poland. To watch (youtube).

 

Articles

Daily Star
Lebanon high emitter of greenhouse gases
Energy sector behind most emissions

Lebanon emits more greenhouse gases per capita than the world average, said an Environment Ministry expert during a workshop held at the American University of Beirut (AUB) on Monday. (August 2009)

Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times)
Iraq in throes of environmental catastrophe, experts say

Now-frequent dust storms are just one sign of the man-made damage that has taken the country from Middle East breadbasket to dust bowl, they say. (July 2009)

Mohamed A Raouf (Arab Reform Initiative)
Climate change negotiations: Will the Arab world take the right decision?

There is irony in the current financial crisis. The quest to follow the West’s development model, without taking into consideration its negative side or balancing the positive and negative factors has impacted many countries severely. (February 2009)

Ahmad Khatib (The Daily Star)
Climate change threatens to kill off Lebanon's cedars
Ahmad Khatib shows how that the Country's treasured trees could disappear due to global warming. (February 2009)

Nicholas Kimbrell (The Daily Star)
Land and People focuses on its namesakes

Kimbrell shows how that an AUB professor has sparked series of initiatives to help rural areas stand on their own feet after the end of July 2006 war with Israel. (December 2008)

Mari Luomi (The Finish Institute of International Affairs)
The Arab World’s chronic disintegration – now in Poznan

Mari Luomi speaks about the UN Climate Change Conference, which convened in Poznan, Poland, and the role of Arabs participations in it. (December 2008)

Habib Maalouf (Assafir)
Climate Change and “Sustainable Cities” Proposal

Habib Maalouf discusses the "Global Greens Congress" in that took place São Paulo, Brazil, on May 1-5, 2008 and the prospective for the green parties work all over the globe. (May 2008)

Alister Doyle (Reuters)
World warming despite cool Pacific and Baghdad snow
In this article, Alister Doyle tackles the fact that climate change is still nudging up temperatures, even though it snowed in Baghdad for the first since long. She discusses this, showing how climate Global warming has not stopped even though 2008 was predicted to be the coolest year since 2000. (January 2008)

Michael T. Klare (AlterNet.org)
Preparing for Life After Oil
Michael T. Klare the professor of peace and world security shows how we are entering the age of insufficiency, where oil prices hit new highs and supplies sink, hence having our way of life drastically changed. (
November 2007)

Fouad Hamdan (Executive Magcazine)
Arab States Ignore Climate Change
Arab Leaders are ignoring climate change at the peril of their people, argues Fouad Hamdan. Far from being the problem of a distant future, climate change is already affecting Arab countries.  Hydrogen, a clean energy suitable to replace oil and petrol can be generated from solar energy. Timely investment in such technologies would more than offset any reduction in oil production, and put the region at the forefront of clean energy suppliers. (April 2007)

Suzanne Baaklini (L'Orient Le Jour)
Socio Economic Consequences at all Levels
Global Warming: More Drought and Heat in Lebanon

Suzanne Baaklini describes the potential effects of climate change on Lebanon, citing heat waves, floods, drought and desertification and their effects on the ecological system of Lebanon and the Lebanese economy, in particular tourism and agriculture, and suggests a number of measures to avoid these effects.(November 2005)

Habib Maalouf (As-Safir)
On the Edge of Climate Change: A Late Warning
A call for taking on Climate Change as one of the most serious challenges to the existing practices of global cooperation and economy, and to adjust values and behavior towards sustainability and responsibility. (February 2007)

Wikipedia
Climate Change
Comprehensive overview with multiple links for further reading. (Constantly Updated)

 

Climate Policy Map online

This website offers interactive information on international climate policy. By using the website’s Map Creator users can create maps on climate policy, download Fact Sheets, summarize information on climate policy, and find information related to the main national climate policies.

 

Links

Arab Campaign for Climate Change

Arab Environment Watch

BBC Weather Forecast - Special on Climate Change

European Commission - "You Control Climate Change"

Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)

Inter Governmental Panel On Climate Change(IPCC)

Climate Change, Enabling Activity Project
A project prepared by the Lebanese Ministry of Environment

Regional Effects of Climate Change
Quick facts about the middle east effects of climate change by the Climate Institute

REN21 - Renewable Energy Policy
Network for the 21st Century

Reuters latest environment blogs

United Nation Environment Program - Climate Change Page

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

United Nations System's Work on Climate Change

 
 
 
 

Green Wars? Environment between Conflict and Cooperation
Beirut, 2-3/11/ 2007

Two-day conference organized by hbf that focused on environmental issues that have the potential to cause conflicts, and for which sustainable solutions would require cooperation between the parties, with one panel dedicated to potential conflicts arising from climate change. Read More..

 

Keynote Speech: "Climate Change: A Global Challenge"
By Barbara Unmüßig

Experts, scientists and politicians from the region and abroad gathered in Amman on 21-22 October 2008 to discuss the impact of climate change for the Middle East. The Heinrich Boell Stiftung - AMEO organized this first regional conference on climate change in the Middle East under the title “Climate Change Policies in the Middle East – Challenges for Decision makers and Activists”. During this conference Barbara Unmüßig delivered the keynote speech on "Climate Change: A Global Challenge". Read...

 

Status and Potentials of Renewable Energy Technologies in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine

Desk study compiled by hbf partner organization  Green Line as part of the project Promoting renewable energies in Lebanon.

 

Climate Change in Lebanon & the Middle East

A Detailed Assessment of Global Oil Capacity and Prices Through 2030
By: Dr. Sadad I. Al Husseini

Climate change and the Impact on Natural Areas and Wildlife in Lebanon

Climate Change and Variability in Lebanon: Impact on Land Use and Sustainable Agriculture
By: Fadi Karam
Head of the Department of Irrigation and Agro-Meteorology, Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute

Climate Change and Water Resources in Lebanon and the Middle East
By: E. Bou-Zeid and M. El-Fadel

Climate Change Impacts in the Middle East
By: Climate Institute

Climate Change: Implications for Agriculture in the Near East
By: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO)

Un rendez-vous manqué à Beyrouth pour les négociateurs arabes (French)
Changement Climatique et Catastrophes Prévues: Faire entendre sa Voix Dans les Négociations Internationales (French)
By: Suzanne Baaklini, August, 2009

How Climate Change Will Impact Multiple Sectors in Society
By: Professor Nadim Farajalla
Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut

Research and Policy Memo: Climate Change and Environment in the Arab World
By: Professor Nadim Farajalla

Lebanon’s National Communication on Climate Change
By: Lebanese Ministry of Environment

The Arab Ministerial Declaration on Climate Change
The Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment has adopted this declaration its 19th session held on December 5 and 6, 2007
.

The Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources of Lebanon Eastern Mediterranean
By: Mohammad R. Khawlie
National Centre for Remote Sensing

Lebanon: Climate change and politics threaten water wars in Bekaa
By: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

 

Reports

Arab Climate Campaign Position Paper

Arab World Policy for Post-2012 Negotiations
IFI, IndyAct and the Heinrich Boll Foundation published the proceedings of this 2-day regional Climate Change workshop held at AUB 14/15 October 2008.

Climate Change: A New Threat to Middle East Security
A report prepared by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) on the Climate Change implications on the Middle East region.

Climate Change: Implications for Agriculture in the Near East
Twenty-Ninth FAO regional conference for the near east

Climate change and displacement
This issue of Forced Migration Review (FMR)31 deals with Climate change and displacement, debates the numbers, the definitions and the modalities – and the tension between the need for research and the need to act.

Environmental Degradation Triggering Tensions and Conflict in Sudan
A report prepared by United Nations Environment Program that sheds the light to how that Climate Change effect on the Economical Degradation effects and escalates tensions and conflicts in Sudan. (UNEP, June 2007 )

Exploiting Natural Resources: Growth, Instability, and Conflict in the Middle East and Asia (Stimson)

Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world
Human Development Report 2007/2008. (UNDP)

IPCC Special Report on the Regional Impacts of Climate Change - Chapter 7: The Middle East Part and Arid Asia

Kyoto Protocol

REN21 Report for the Middle East and North Africa

The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change (CSIS)

The view of the Republic of Lebanon on the "The fulfillment of the Bali Action Plan and the components of the agreed outcome to be adopted by the Conference of Parties at its fifteenth session (AWG-LCA)" submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat on February 4, 2009

Towards a new global climate deal
An analysis of the agreements and politics of the Bali negotiations By Jennifer L Morgan, (January 2008)

Troubled Waters: Climate Change, Hydropolitics, and Transboundary Resources (Stimson)

What is Climate Change?
Fact Sheet prepared by hbf and the League of Independent Activists (Indyact) on Climate Change

 
 

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OTHER VOICES

Steven SeidmanStreets of Beirut: Self and the Encounter with ‘the Other’

More readings available from the hbf translation project

Other Voices

DOSSIERS

Obvious and Hidden:
Marginalized Sexual Identities in the Arab World

 

Iraqi Refugee Crisis

 

Climate Change and the Middle East

 

War in Darfur

PUBLICATIONS

Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents

 

Bareed Mista3jil

 

New Finance for Climate Change and the Environment

 

Waiting for the Barbarians
A Tribute to Edward Said

 

Green Wars?
Conference Report

 

Cities of the South: Citizenship and Exclusion in the 21st Century