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Begin New Search Topic Conference of the Parties (COP) Political Geography Middle East

1. Themes of COP28

Author:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
MEI's Climate and Water Program discusses the top issues within the themes of COP28's agenda. For more info on COP28 and climate issues in the MENA region, follow MEI's Spotlight on COP28.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Water, and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Middle East, North Africa, and Global Focus

2. Perspectives from the Bonn Climate Change Conference Ahead of COP28

Author:
Mohammed Mahmoud, Athraa Khamis, and Neeshad Shafi
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
This year's Bonn Climate Change Conference featured events and discussions focusing on climate issues such as adaptation, mitigation, the global stocktake, and climate loss and damage. Progress on these issues at the Bonn Conference is intended to translate into potential draft decisions to be adopted at the COP28 meeting taking place in the UAE later this year. Mohammed Mahmoud discusses the details of the Bonn Conference, how it may have shaped the MENA climate change agenda, and other major outcomes with Athra Khamis and Neeshad Shafi, two of MEI’s non-resident scholars in the Climate and Water Program that attended the Bonn Conference.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Water, Adaptation, and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

3. COP27 and the Sustainable City: Global Climate Solution or Mirage?

Author:
Patrick J. Bohlen
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
Cities are central to any discussion about climate change policy if for no other reason than that they create the most greenhouse emissions. They are also where most people live and where more of the world’s population will reside in the coming decades. Cities are responsible for an estimated 75 percent of climate emissions, despite the fact that they take up only 3 percent of the planet’s land surface. In addition to their current emissions, cities are likely to contribute more in the future due to projected increases in urban population and urbanization. The Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan, which was revealed at COP27, recognizes the important role of cities in addressing climate change, but according to the UN-Habitat program, urban climate challenges and climate policies and responses do not always align. Furthermore, although global climate policy stresses the importance of cities, insufficient attention has been given to the intersecting issues of population growth, urban expansion, and urban sustainability. The world’s urban population is expanding rapidly. In 2018, cities accounted for 55 percent of the world’s population and, by 2050, they will account for a whopping 68 percent, with an estimated 6.7 billion people living in cities alone. Most of that projected growth will occur in large cities, including new and existing megacities, which are home to a population of more than 10 million. Nine of the ten new megacities that will emerge between 2018 and 2030 will be in developing countries—two in Africa and seven in Asia. Accommodating this urban growth will have an impact on the climate and is likely to increase global greenhouse gas emissions. Although recent estimates indicate that urban growth will slow down after 2030, the current alarming rate begs the question of which development paths cities will take in response, and what impact they will have on climate emissions and policy. For instance, the UN Environment Programme estimates that 90 trillion dollars of urban infrastructure will be built by 2050 to accommodate the growing global urban population. Building urban infrastructure requires immense quantities of fossil fuel-dependent materials such as steel, concrete, and plastic. Feeding the growing urban population means increased food production which is unlikely to be sustained without increased use of mineral fertilizer, another fossil fuel input. Even with heroic efforts to minimize the carbon footprint of expanding cities, for example by implementing best green building practices, building efficient mass transit systems, and incorporating renewable energy systems, it is hard to envision that these cities can be built without risking added greenhouse gas emissions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Cities, Sustainability, and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Middle East and Dubai

4. Good to the Last Drop

Author:
Thomas L. Crisman and Zachary S. Winters
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
In 1907, Theodore Roosevelt was asked how his cup of coffee tasted, to which he responded “good to the last drop”. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is exhausting its limited water resources, and without adaptive management and alternative water sources will soon reach the “last drop”. This threatens the future of humanity in this region, as the UN recognized in 2010 by declaring that access to water and sanitation (termed the “human right to water and sanitation” or HRWS) is a basic human right due to its necessity for sustaining human life. Many MENA countries always had scarce surface waters, mainly springs, that were quickly diminished or totally lost to pumping of groundwater for agriculture. In 1990 and before placing significant curbs on pumping, Saudi Arabia had forty-six active springs. It now has only fifteen. Major aquifers of the region containing “fossil water” from moderate climate periods thousands of years ago have been significantly reduced in size and volume to a point where they are no longer viable water sources. Nations have recently resorted to building expensive desalination plants to supply their basic water demands. Even nations relying on major rivers (the Nile, Tigris, or Euphrates) as traditionally inexhaustible sources of water have seen both the quantity and predictability of water threatened by climate change and increased human demands in the multiple countries they flow through. Current water sources are either too expensive or too threatened politically to be wasted.
Topic:
Climate Change, Water, Food, Conservation, Energy, and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

5. Navigating climate change challenges amidst ambitious green policies in the Gulf countries

Author:
FARAS
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS)
Abstract:
The United Arab Emirates is hosting COP28 in Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023, the largest yearly gathering dedicated to tackling the phenomena of climate change, an urgent global crisis that transcends national borders and necessitates resolute international cooperation to prevent the harm it causes. Undoubtedly, the UAE's hosting of the conference, which has a long track record of efforts in combatting the effects of climate change and investing in clean energy, will provide momentum for Gulf states to lead climate action efforts at the regional and international levels. However, it is untrue that the issue of climate change has risen to the top of the Gulf states' priority list solely because of the COP28 summit. This has received much attention for over a decade because Gulf nations are among the countries most affected by climate change, so they must be at the forefront of countries fighting to prevent it.
Topic:
Climate Change, International Cooperation, Crisis Management, Energy, and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Middle East, United Arab Emirates, and Gulf Nations

6. Energy Transition in the Middle East and North Africa: The Road to COP28

Author:
Hanen Keskes and Laury Haytayan
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Oil and gas producers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) must plan for the long-term impacts that the global energy transition will have on their fiscal systems and adapt public investment plans in the pursuit of long-term economic transformation. MENA countries seeking international climate finance to support energy transition must establish a track record of developing and implementing viable green energy projects. MENA governments must center energy transitions around justice, fairness and equity for all. A just energy transition process must include two types of justice: procedural justice, which relates to the extent to which people are involved in the process; and distributive justice, which represents the extent to which the positive and negative effects of energy transition are fairly distributed. Governments in the Global South must ensure that South-North cooperation for renewable energy production addresses domestic energy needs, before directing excess production to export.
Topic:
Climate Change, Oil, Gas, Conference of the Parties (COP), and Energy Transition
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa