Middle East Transformation Initiative

Artists in the sleepy town of Agareb sparked an unprecedented environmental movement in Tunisia.

On October 20, Natasha Hall moderated a side event to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly entitled, “Water and Conflict: Addressing Water Insecurity Issues in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries.” Government leaders, civil society members, and researchers discussed rising threats to water in conflict-affected areas, the ramifications of protracted water insecurity, and the urgent need to protect water infrastructure in conflict-affected regions. 
 

Climate change and environmental issues have only recently become a subject of public discussion in the Gulf. In the run up to COP21 in Paris in 2015, a group of young people formed the Arab Youth Climate Movement – Qatar (AYCM) to address this issue, becoming the first fully independent youth-led association in Qatar focused on youth and climate issues.

As Gulf governments increase their collaboration on environmental issues, CSIS convened a private roundtable with Gulf civil society actors to explore the role that civil society actors can play in bolstering state-level collaboration efforts and driving environmental action. Participants included academics, activists, and analysts from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar. They debated avenues to strengthen regional collaboration, pathways for civil society actors to influence government policy, and ways in which international actors can bolster their efforts. 

As the water crisis in Syria reaches a breaking point, CSIS convened civil society members and researchers on September 19 to discuss the complexity of the current situation, the role of donor countries, and avenues for sustainable change. Panelists emphasized that the current approach to resolving the crisis is inconsistent and unsustainable. Stakeholders must move towards a data-informed, comprehensive, and unified approach to address this worsening crisis.