The Middle East's Battle on the Frontline of Climate Change

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Deluge and Drought: Water Challenges in the Middle East The Future of a Region on the Frontline of Climate Change

by Yasmine El-Geressi In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), climate change is an especially urgent issue, particularly as it has already triggered devastating weather events, including prolonged droughts, flash floods and rising sea levels. Evidence abounds it will be the MENA that climate change will hit hardest as temperatures across the region are expected to increase more than twice the global average. Governments and their international partners have done little to integrate climate change to

their strategies to mitigate instability. But without urgent action to curb global emissions, according to research by Nature Research, cities in the region may become uninhabitable before 2100.

WORST DROUGHT IN 900 YEARS The Middle East and North Africa is the world’s most water scares region and has been experiencing almost continuous drought since 1998 - the most severe dry spell in 900 years according to NASA – and it is seemingly

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