Category Archives: Climate Change

Understanding Carbon Footprint

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With rising awareness of global warming and effects of emissions on the environment, corporates and individuals alike are rising to tackle environmental issues. Carbon footprinting, the first step to reduce carbon emissions, is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly or indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product. The main reason for calculating a carbon footprint is to inform decisions on how to reduce the climate change impact of a company, service or product. Carbon footprints are measured by undertaking a greenhouse gas assessment. Once the size of a carbon footprint is known, a strategy can be … Continue reading →

التصدي لأثار التغيرات المناخية بالمغرب

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يبدو أن الرجوع إلى فترة ما قبل الثورة الصناعية سيصبح شيئا حتميا لا مناص منه ان نحن أردنا أن ننقذ أنفسنا و أرضنا من عواقب الأزمات البيئية بسبب ما يسمى بالتغيرات المناخية. و لقد فطنت و تيقنت العديد من الدول إلى هذا الخطر الداهم و من بينهم المغرب الذي انخرط في مساعي الحد من التأثيرات المناخية بشكل ملحوظ رسميا و فعليا من خلال عدة مشاريع وطنية كمخططات المغرب الأخضر للنهوض بالقطاع ألفلاحي و سياسات النجاعة الطاقية كمشاريع إنتاج الطاقات المتجددة. و قد أصبح البلد بهذا رائدا في هذا المجال عربيا و إفريقيا. و تتجسد هذه الريادة كذلك من خلال استضافة … Continue reading →

Key Questions about COP21 Climate Agreement

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The headlines from the CO21 Climate Summit tell an inspiring story. Agence France-Presse reported an outbreak of “euphoria” as the international climate accord was sealed. Reuters hailed a global “turn from fossil fuels.” The Guardian headlined “a major leap for mankind.” As the euphoria of delegates at the UN climate talks in Paris fades, it is time to get down to the business of saving the planet and ask what it means for me. This time, they were. They managed to seal a pact that sets a surprisingly ambitious target for limiting global warming, reflects the vast differences between countries … Continue reading →

Renewable Energy in World’s Top-10 Oil Producing Countries

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In April 2019, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed a bill that aims to power the island totally through renewable energy by 2050. It also aims to completely give up coal by 2028. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States of America, which is today the world’s largest oil producing country. This begs the question, what are the world’s top 10 oil producers doing to increase energy from renewable sources? First, let us have a look at how much oil these countries produced in 2017, which was the latest data available at the time of writing this article. … Continue reading →

الشرق الأوسط يستعد لمواجهة الاحتباس الحراري وسوق الكربون

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تعد منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا من أكثر المناطق عرضة للتغير المناخي، بسبب ندرة المياه، والاعتماد الكبير على الزراعة الحساسة للمناخ، وتركيز السكان والنشاط الاقتصادي في المناطق الساحلية الحضرية، ووجود المناطق المتضررة من النزاع. وعلاوة على ذلك، فإن المنطقة هي واحدة من أكبر المساهمين في انبعاثات الغازات المسببة للاحتباس الحراري وذلك بسبب ازدهار اقتصاد النفط والغاز فيها. وقد تسبب اعتماد العالم على موارد الطاقة في منطقة الشرق الأوسط في الحصول على أكبر معدلات آثار الكربون للفرد الواحد في جميع أنحاء العالم. وليس من المفاجىء أن تكون انبعاثات الكربون في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة ما يقرب من 55 طن للفرد الواحد، أكثر من … Continue reading →

The Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources in MENA

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Freshwater shortage in the MENA region is posing a serious threat to economic growth, social cohesion, peace and political stability. Furthermore, today’s freshwater usage does not account for its present and future availability but rather is based on sectoral and geographical competing consumption needs. To make matters worse, this already dire situation is being exacerbated by the rapidly changing climate. Climate change affects water resources by its profound impact on water quantity, variability, timing, form, and intensity of precipitation. The MENA region, in particular, is highly vulnerable to the disruptive climate change effects because countries within this region are unarguably … Continue reading →

Climate Change Impacts on Public Health: Perspectives for Arab World

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Climate change is not only affecting the economies of Arab world but also having detrimental impacts on the very fabric of society, through threats to public health and livelihoods. Climate change in the Arab world is also exacerbating social inequalities, hitting the rural poor the hardest. This is not a reason for complacency amongst the wealthy urban classes. Basic humanitarianism aside, history suggests that physical hardships can breed wider unrest: a body of evidence suggests that poor harvests caused by a major Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in 1783 triggered no less an event that the French Revolution. Extreme weather events … Continue reading →

الصحة المناخية – مصطلح جديد وضرورة

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لا ادري ان يصح إطلاق تعبير ” الصحة المناخية” لكنني استوحيته من دراستي الجامعية حيث تخصصت بالصحة البيئية ومن بعدها ماجستير العلوم البيئية. فكما ترتكز الصحة البيئية على دراسة تأثير البيئة على صحة الإنسان وتأثير الإنسان على البيئة. فإن ايضا الصحة المناخية أعني بها تأثير التغير المناخي على صحة الإنسان وعلاقة الإنسان بتغير المناخ. يؤثر تغير المناخ على نوعية مياه الشرب والمأوى الآمن وكمية الغذاء ونقاوة الهواء وفي نفس الوقت إن زيادة تلوث الهواء يؤدي إلى زيادة حدة تغير المناخ. وتأثير المناخ على الصحة يختلف بين البلدان والبلدان النامية والجزر هم الأكثر تأثرا والأقل قدرة على الاحتمال. حسب منظمة الصحة … Continue reading →

4 Common Misconceptions About Climate Change

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From an individual level, climate change can seem as a difficult issue to connect with, often leaving people with emotions of helplessness as they struggle to understand this phenomenon. While most people can identify practices to reduce their carbon footprint, very few of them actually engage in such activities. One of the main reasons for such inertia from the public may lie in the image of climate change, portrayed by media as being distant, remote and affecting future generations. Here are some of the most common myths and misconceptions about climate change: 1. There is still no global scientific consensus … Continue reading →

Desertification in MENA – Causes and Solutions

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Desertification is a worldwide phenomenon afflicting countries all over the world. The desert is making a comeback in the Middle East, with fertile lands turning into barren wastes. According to United Nation’s Development Program’s 2009 Arab Human Development Report, desertification is threatening around one-fifth of the MENA region. China is experiencing desertification at an alarming rate – as much as 1,300 square miles each year. Sub-Saharan Africa is drying up, as are regions of Turkey that were once rich agricultural lands. During the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the world’s leaders adopted the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and agreed on the desertification definition … Continue reading →

CO2-Caused Ocean Acidification – Causes and Consequences

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“The CO2 problem” has traditionally been understood as the fact that excessive CO2 produces global warming. But near the end of the 20th century, scientists started talking about a second CO2 problem, “ocean acidification”. Ocean acidification results from the fact that about 30 percent of our CO2 emissions have been absorbed by the ocean. This absorption keeps down the warming of the atmosphere that would otherwise be produced by these emissions. Ocean acidification involves the ocean’s pH, changes in which make the water become either more alkaline or more acidic. Tests have shown that “for more than 600,000 years the … Continue reading →

Carbon Capture and Storage: Prospects in GCC

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Gulf Cooperation Council countries are burgeoning economies which are highly dependent on hydrocarbons to fuel their needs for economic growth. GCC nations are fully aware of the mounting consequences of increasing levels of CO­2 on the environment, mainly attributed to soaring energy demand of domestic and industrial sector. Regional countries are undertaking concrete steps and measures to reduce their carbon footprint through the introduction of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. Among other options, Carbon Capture and Storage, popularly known as CCS, can be an attractive proposition for GCC nations. What is CCS Carbon capture and storage (or carbon capture and sequestration) … Continue reading →