The Climate Crisis and the Changing Security Environment of the Middle East
Publisher: EcoPeace Middle East and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Date: 2020
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Conflict Prevention, Cooperation, Governance, Land, Public Health, Renewable Resources
Countries: Israel, Jordan, Palestine
Climate variability is generally not regarded as a direct cause of conflict but rather as a phenomenon that can worsen or exacerbate pre-existing sources of instability. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in December 2019 added another factor of instability to vulnerable regions, like the Middle East, challenging the resilience of its political, social, and economic structures, and increasing the chances that the heightened tensions within countries, and between the countries themselves, will escalate and boil into violent conflicts. Due to that multi-layered challenge, EcoPeace ran an online simulation in order to map and identify the connection between climate change and national and regional security issues in the MENA region, and develop policy options that will effectively address these issues.