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The Middle East: Egypt, Israel, Jordan

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Abstract

The Middle East is under increasing threat from drought and water scarcity. These problems will only increase in the twenty-first century. The nations of Jordan, Egypt and Israel are profiled in this chapter, which documents alarming projections and severe climate change outcomes. The historic Nile River, a pivotal waterway for the population, is increasingly threatened by climate change and the country is ranked second in the world in terms of sea level rise threats to coastal populations. Extreme heat episodes along with associated health and agriculture crises will affect all three countries with increasing severity in the coming decades.

“Trees are poems that Earth writes upon the sky.”

Gibran

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Looming Crisis of the Much-Decreased Fresh-Water Supply to Egypt’s Nile Delta” 13 March 2017 GSA Release No. 17–11. The Geological Association of America (GSA).

  2. 2.

    Arab Forum for Environment and Development, 2010.

  3. 3.

    EJF (2009) “No Place Like Home—Where next for climate refugees?” Environmental Justice Foundation: London.

  4. 4.

    Neumann B., Vafeidis A.T., Zimmermann J., Nicholls R.J. (2015) Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding—A Global Assessment. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0118571. pmid:25760037.

  5. 5.

    Climate: Observations, projections and impacts: Egypt, Met Office.

  6. 6.

    Leila Radhouane, “Climate change impacts on North African countries and on some Tunisian economic sectors” Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development—JAEID 2013: 101–113.

  7. 7.

    Egyptian Meteorological Authority, 17–20 Oct 2014, “Drought condition and management strategies in Egypt, Tamer A. Nada.

  8. 8.

    Vizy, E.K. and K.H. Cook, 2012: Mid-twenty-first-century changes in extreme events over northern and tropical Africa. Journal of Climate, 25(17), 5748–5767.

  9. 9.

    Taeleb, 1999.

  10. 10.

    The Future Impacts of Climate Change on Egyptian Population by Khaled El-Sayed Hassan, Economic Demographer and Statistical Expert, Egyptian Society for Migration Studies, 2013.

  11. 11.

    Eid, 1999.

  12. 12.

    Boko, M., I. Niang, A. Nyong, C. Vogel, A. Githeko, M. Medany, B. Osman-Elasha, R. Tabo and P. Yanda, 2012: IPCC, 2012: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA, 582 pp.

  13. 13.

    The Future Impacts of Climate Change on Egyptian Population by Khaled El-Sayed Hassan, Economic Demographer and Statistical Expert, Egyptian Society for Migration Studies, 2013.

  14. 14.

    Dasgupta, S., B. Laplante, C. Meisner, D. Wheeler, and J. Yan (2007) The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Developing Countries; A Comparative Analysis. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4136, Washington: Development Research Group, World Bank. 2007.

  15. 15.

    “Egypt’s Water Crisis—Recipe for Disaster” Amir Dakkak, EcoMena, January 4, 2016.

  16. 16.

    Khaled El-Sayed Hassan, Egyptian Society for Migration Studies and Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) 2010.

  17. 17.

    Broadus et al., 1986; Milliman et al., 1989; IPCC, 1997—R.T. Watson, M.C. Zinyowera, R.H. Moss (Eds) Cambridge University Press, UK.

  18. 18.

    “Adaptation to climate change in Israel Recommendations and knowledge gaps” State of Israel, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Office of the Chief Scientist, February, 2014.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    CSD-16/17 Drought and Arid Land Water Management, CSD-16/17 National Report Israel 1/11, Drought and Arid Land Water Management, Government Focal Points: Michael Zaide, Strategic Planning Engineer, Planning Division, Water Authority, Ministry of National Infrastructure, Israel.

  21. 21.

    NOAA. National Weather Global Service- Glossary. http://w1.weather.gov/glossary/index.php?letter=h.

  22. 22.

    “Climate Change Report” Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2010 and Israel Water Authority.

  23. 23.

    MMWR: Heat-Related Deaths—United States. 1999, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5529a2.htm, 2003.

  24. 24.

    Novikov I., Kalter-Leibovici O., Chetrit A., Stav N., Epstein Y. Weather conditions and visits to the medical wing of emergency rooms in a metropolitan area during the warm season in Israel: a predictive model. Int J Biometeorol. 2012;56:121–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0403-z.

  25. 25.

    Vynne C., Doppelt B. Climate Change Health Preparedness in Oregon: An Assessment of Awareness. Environmental Health Committee: Preparation and Resource Needs for Potential Public Health Risks Associated with Climate Change. Climate Leadership Initiative Institute for a Sustainable Environment University of Oregon & the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials; 2009.

  26. 26.

    Schwartz B.S. Climate change and public health. Medscape Public Health; 2008. http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/574087.

  27. 27.

    “Adaptation to climate change in Israel Recommendations and knowledge gaps” State of Israel, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Office of the Chief Scientist, February, 2014.

  28. 28.

    Tamar Weiss, “Can Israeli Technology Help Beat the Food-Security Threat Posed by the Global Water Crisis?” SNC, December 28, 2016.

  29. 29.

    Israel National Report on Climate Change, Ministry of Environmental Protection Pinhas Alpert, Prof., Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Unit of Atmospheric Sciences, Tel Aviv, 2011.

  30. 30.

    Jordan’s Third national Communication on Climate Change, Submitted to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2014.

  31. 31.

    USAID Fact Sheet, Climate Change Risk Profile Jordan, March 2017.

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    Jordan’s Third National Communication on Climate Change, Submitted to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 2014.

  34. 34.

    Bill McGuire, “Climate forcing of geological and geomorphological hazards”, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 2010 368 2311–2315; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0077. Published 19 April 2010.

  35. 35.

    National Water Strategy of Jordan, 2016–2025, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2016.

  36. 36.

    USAID Fact Sheet, Climate Change Risk Profile Jordan March 2017.

  37. 37.

    Jordan’s Third National Communication on Climate Change, Submitted to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2014.

  38. 38.

    Ibid.

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Pink, R.M. (2018). The Middle East: Egypt, Israel, Jordan. In: The Climate Change Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71033-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71033-4_8

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