Egypt, Jordan and Palestine threatened by global warming

A recent report published by Friends
of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)
for the annual United Nations
Climate Change Conference in
Bali, Indonesia illustrated that
the security risk of climate change
to the Middle East is very real.

With the Middle East being
the world’s most water-stressed
region, climate change, which is
projected to cause sea level rise that will flood Egypt’s 2nd largest city,
Alexandria, and displace millions of people, will contribute to
even greater water stress in the region. “The expected rise in sea
level will make dysfunctional the coastal groundwater for 1.5
million Palestinians in Gaza,” claimed Nader Khateeb,
Palestinian director of Friends of the Earth Middle East.

“Being left unprepared will affect not only economic,
physical, and environmental security, but national,
regional, and global security, if actions are not taken now to
mitigate, and adapt to, the projected impacts of climate change,”
Khateeb stressed.

Munqeth Mehyar, Director of FoEME’s Amman office and
FoEME chair stated “it will be essential for the most developed
countries to provide developing countries with technical
and financial assistance in adapting to climate change.
Bali presents a major opportunity to enhance these
efforts, and countries of the region will have to
manage water resources and cooperate over
transboundary water resources to a much greater
extent in the future, as a result of climate change.”

“Under climate change there will be no fresh water
resources available for agriculture”, Mehyar added.

The organization noted the climate change is
expected to make water resources even more scarce
in Jordan and Palestine, which already are among the
most water-scarce countries in the world, and will
thereby contribute to even greater water stress in
the region. “FoEME calls on the Jordanian
Government to assist rural communities in Jordan
that currently are dependent on agriculture to diversify
their income sources to rural tourism and small cottage
industries. Government policies that continue to
heavily subsidize water for agriculture are unsustainable
and are preventing us from preparing for the inevitable,”
he said.

“US leadership is required to both prevent the
worst impacts and to provide developing countries
such as Jordan and Palestine with technical and
financial assistance in adapting to climate change.
The oil producing Gulf States must also step up to
the plate and become part of the solution,”
Mehyar continued.