Sustainable use of its environmental resources is by many considered to be probably the most severe long-term development challenge for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which is also one ofthe regions of the world to be most severely affected by climate change. Yet despite a strong nexus between poverty as well social, political and economic exclusion and poor management of natural resources, governments in the region have not prioritized investments in the sustainable management of water resources and improvements in agricultural practices and productivity as the key to sustainable development. Nor has the region’s considerable oil wealth been used to build the governance and production structures needed for social and political equity and justice. 

 

Liane Schalatek is Associate director of the Washington Office of the Heinrich Boell Stiftung. A special interest of her work on climate finance is to increase the gender-responsiveness of existing instruments and funding structures.

Sarah Bibler is a Program Associate with Gender Action, where she currently leads Gender Action’s work in Post-Conflict Reconstruction and the Care Economy

Sarah Little manages Gender Action’s administration and communications and leads the Climate Change Program

Celine Salcedo-La Vina completed an internship with Gender Action and is working towards her Masters degree.

 

Dossier

Seasons of Change: Climate, Energy and Resource Politics in the MENA Region

In the midst of turbulent times in the Middle East and North Africa, the State of Qatar is hosting the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha from November 26 to December 7, 2012. This trilingual webdossier presents analysis and perspectives from a wide range of international and regional experts on how climate change, resource and energy politics relate to political and social change.

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