Environment
Urban-Rural Disconnect: COVID-19 and Sustainability
The Urban-Rural Disconnect and how COVID-19 is influencing the Nexus of water, energy and food.
Reinventing Governance for a Fragile and Complex New World
The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the weaknesses of the international system; to fix the present and prepare for the future, we must pivot to a resilience paradigm.
Sustainable Solutions for an Economic Crisis
As the world grapples to mitigate a looming economic crisis, a roadmap already exists: the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
A Surplus of Deficits
From a political economy perspective, there are four key forces working against the peace and prosperity of Middle Eastern and North African states. To defeat them, robust institutions are essential.
Can Arab Cities Be Eco-Sustainable?
Separating fiction from reality, and corporate interests from true innovation in the new “eco-cities” of the Middle East.
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in COVID-19
The nexus between water, energy, and food today is fragile—made all the more so by climate change, catastrophic weather events, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Water Rivalry on the Nile
In an effort to overcome competition over water resources, Nile Basin countries can collaborate in harvesting more rainfall and increase Nile flow to maximize benefit sharing to reach a win-win solution.
A Future Filled With Pathogens
The combination of a worsening climate crisis and ongoing human encroachment on the wilds will bring more pandemics.
A Message From The Editors
Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Learning from Mistakes in Pandemic Response
As long as humans have interacted with one another, we have assumed the risk of communicating disease; the question is, have we learned from past experiences enough to minimize future risk?
Edge of Survival
The interaction of food, energy, and water in North Africa is complex and building into a cascade of trouble. It is time to listen to the rural communities facing it on the frontline
Averting a Total Collapse
How is the water-energy-food nexus impacting ecological, social, and political systems in the Middle East and North Africa?
Our Future as Climate Refugees
Journalist Dahr Jamail discusses the impact of climate change on the Middle East and calls for immediate collaborative action
The Most Severe Threat Facing MENA
Water scarcity is one of the most pressing issues facing the international community today and has gained widespread attention recently due to the rise in global temperatures and the increase in water consumption in a number of countries, especially those in the Middle East. Despite these concerns, many nations remain unprepared to confront water scarcity and continue to fail to make the issue a political priority.
The shortage of water in the Middle East has worsened in the modern era due to high population growth rates, » Read more about: The Most Severe Threat Facing MENA »
Facing the Nuclear Storm
Countries across the Middle East are building or have already started operating their nuclear power plants. To assess how “resilient” their nuclear energy systems are, one must look at a number of important risks and factors
The Cost of Clean Water
How one village was hit by the demands of sustainable development.
Reconstruction as a political-economy issue: The case of Syria
There can be no meaningful separation between state-building, peace-building, and revival at the end of a conflict, especially as post-conflict state institutions are the only apparatus which can be somewhat directly or indirectly accountable toward their populations for the management of the country.
The Desert, a Resource Curse
Could land be Egypt’s Dutch Disease?
Saudi Arabia’s Moment in the Sun
Although cooperation with China can help Saudi Arabia boost production of solar power, global trade dynamics may complicate the kingdom’s renewable energy goals.
Lebanon’s Black Sheep
Independent parliamentarian Paula Yacoubian discusses the battles worth fighting in Lebanese politics
Jordan at the Crossroads
Jordan’s economic, demographic and geographic characteristics have left the country vulnerable to mass protests and external pressure that can only be overcome by a comprehensive reform program.
Climate Change Conundrum
Can cities succeed when nations fail in the fight against global warming?
The Battle for Antarctica
Failure to stem climate change could have dramatic consequences for the continent
The Unnatural World
Will mankind have the ability to prevail in the struggle for a sustainable planet?
Dangerous Years
What will it take to spark a great environmental awakening and avert catastrophic climate change?
After the Paris Agreement
The international deal to combat global warming comes into force in 2016. For climate activists, it’s the beginning of a new stage in the struggle to hold nations accountable for their greenhouse emissions.
The End of Stationarity
Winners and losers in the time of climate change
Our Common Home
In an extract from the papal encyclical Laudato Si’, the bishop of Rome makes an impassioned plea to save the planet from ecological destruction: “We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world.”
Will Lebanon Face its Immense Climate Change Dangers?
An eye-opening report on climate change effects in Lebanon reveals the need for government to commit to save tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming decades, and prevent a further fracturing of society along wealth/poverty lines.
The Obesity Crisis
If trends persist, nearly half of the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030. A comprehensive intervention strategy is required to fight a scourge as damaging to the global economy as war.
The Globalization of Clean Energy Technology
Probing the global implications of China’s clean energy technologies.