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32. 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
33. Climate Financing
- Author:
- Mohammed Mahmoud
- Publication Date:
- 09-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Director of MEI’s Climate and Water Program Mohammed Mahmoud speaks to energy and sustainable infrastructure expert Lucia Fuselli on the role of climate financing - a critical component of initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and bolstering climate resilience.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Water, Infrastructure, Climate Finance, Sustainability, and Carbon Emissions
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Global Focus
34. Evaluating The Social and Economic Consequences of Global Warming On African Women
- Author:
- Eyesiere-Hope Essien
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS)
- Abstract:
- By Eyesiere-Hope Essien of the Climate Change Working Group Global warming is significantly impacting developing countries and the effects are far-reaching which is having a devastating impact on African women and their communities, leading to adverse social and economic consequences. Climate change has resulted in an increase in temperature, more extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and a decrease in water availability. As a result, African women are facing a growing number of challenges related to food insecurity, water scarcity, and healthcare access. They are at greater risk of poverty, displacement, and exploitation. These issues can be further exacerbated by a lack of access to education and employment opportunities. It is essential to understand the nature of these impacts and to take action to mitigate them and ensure African women have the resources and skills to adapt to the changing environment.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Health, Water, Women, and Food Security
- Political Geography:
- Africa
35. From Threat to Opportunity: Harnessing Climate Change to Build a Prosperous Future for Iraq and the Region
- Author:
- Azzam Alwash
- Publication Date:
- 06-2023
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- Climate change and environmental degradation are adding serious strain to Iraqi coping capacities and governance mechanisms in a county already struggling with elevated water scarcity, instability and demographic growth. Widely recognised as a country at high-risk from climate change, Iraq faces the urgent need to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbon resources, while developing mechanisms of cooperation and co-dependency with regional neighbours to provide sustenance and opportunities to its youthful population. Drawing on Iraq’s history as a trade hub and bread basket for the region, Iraq and its neighbours need to urgently work together to overcome divisions and plan for a better future if the challenge of climate change is to be transformed into an opportunity capable of promoting stability and integration in an increasingly fragile Middle East.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, Water, Sustainable Development Goals, and Energy
- Political Geography:
- Iraq and Middle East
36. The Future of Water in MENA is at Stake
- Author:
- Malak Altaeb
- 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:
- The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the most water-stressed regions in the world. Global warming has exacerbated water shortages in water-poor areas, increased the risk of drought for agriculture, and increased the vulnerability of vital ecosystems. North Africa, specifically, has registered one of the lowest water rates in the world of less than 500 cubic meters per capita per annum. It is undeniable that climate change will play a massive role in the region’s choices regarding water as a resource. Unequal distribution of water resources in a region where they are already scarce has led to their overexploitation. For example, groundwater, which is the primary water source for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, has been used to expand agriculture into arid or desert areas through agribusiness companies. These companies promote the use of groundwater-based agriculture for economic profit, which increases the pressure placed on these valuable water resources.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Natural Resources, Water, Scarcity, and Resource Management
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
37. 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
38. Water Dilemmas: The cascading impacts of water insecurity in a heating world
- Author:
- Padmini Iyer
- Publication Date:
- 09-2023
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- This briefing paper presents findings from Oxfam’s recently commissioned research on climate predictions for 2040 and 2050 in the Middle East, the Horn, East and Central Africa (HECA), West Africa and Asia regions. Analyses show how temperature increases will influence water insecurity in these regions and the potential impacts on food security, the spread of diseases, and other factors. This briefing paper also reveals severe under-investment by national governments and donors in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems, with critical implications not only for water security but also for poverty and inequality. Oxfam is calling for urgent action to increase investments in sustainable, climate-adapted water management for the people who are most at risk from the worsening climate crisis.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Natural Resources, Water, and Sustainable Development Goals
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, and Asia
39. Refining the Global Goal on Adaptation ahead of COP28
- Author:
- Anna Cabre, Olivia Fielding, and Michael Weisberg
- Publication Date:
- 11-2023
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute (IPI)
- Abstract:
- As the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) approaches, it is increasingly crucial to understand and develop clear actions for not only mitigation but also adaptation. While mitigation has the clear numerical target of limiting warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, adaptation is a complex concept that cannot be captured in a single figure. Ahead of COP28, there is a need for conceptual clarity as to what exactly the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) aims to achieve and how it can be globally applicable when adaptation is so often locally implemented. One way to clarify the GGA is to adopt well-being as the ultimate outcome toward which countries should be working. Well-being is a state where one can pursue one’s goals and thrive. This requires having adequate physical health, water, food, and a healthy environment, even as the impacts of climate change worsen. Adaptation actions that further this goal should be assessed by their effects on present and future human and environmental well-being. Whenever possible, these actions should be both transboundary, reaching across national borders and administrative or jurisdictional boundaries, and transformational, addressing the systemic root causes of climate impacts and working toward a more stable, flexible, and equitable future. This policy paper lays out the various climate risks that affect each of the four pillars of the GGA: human health, water security, food security, and biodiversity. It then details adaptation actions that can be taken in response to these risks, as well as indicators for improvement. While each step of the adaptation policy cycle should be robust and well-funded, these four pillars are the areas where progress is most crucial to achieving the GGA. When crafting a framework for transformational adaptation in these four areas, negotiators and technical experts can draw on existing, agreed-upon frameworks and indicators that point the world toward the goal of well-being for people and planet.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Health, Water, Food Security, Adaptation, Conference of the Parties (COP), and Mitigation
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
40. Three frontlines in Africa's resource conflicts
- Author:
- Peter Albrecht and Marie Ladekjær Gravesen
- Publication Date:
- 09-2023
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- Conflicts over land and resources are nothing new on the African continent. However, as global attention has turned towards environmental issues – as well as Africa’s rich renewable energy sources and precious minerals – the nature of these conflicts has changed. Research shows three frontlines that investors, humanitarian actors, and policymakers need to be aware of as they invest or engage in green initiatives in Africa.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, Migration, Water, Food, Non State Actors, Governance, Inequality, and Land Rights
- Political Geography:
- Africa