Middle East Transformation Initiative

In a new commentary, Jon Alterman discusses five major factors that place Middle Eastern governments in a weaker position today than in 2011. He explains how their position is likely to decline even further and what this means for the future of the region.

For more than three-quarters of a century, diplomats have worked to prevent international water disputes from provoking violence across and within borders. Their tasks are growing harder, especially in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin.

With limited government capacity to drive climate action in the Middle East and insufficient climate financing, greater international support can allow local entrepreneurs to lead the search for innovative and realistic solutions to the region’s mounting climate crisis.

Water insecurity in the Middle East is destroying livelihoods, forcing migration, and fostering instability, with ripple effects on the political, economic, and environmental future of the region.

Libyan authorities are trying to silence independent voices in the run-up to planned elections, but the crackdown undermines the work of civil society more broadly. Lubna Yousef and Will Todman argue that this strategy is self-sabotaging.

The first Earth Day brought together Americans of all walks of life affected by environmental degradation. Fifty-three years later, the Middle East faces a similar need to bring people together on environmental issues, both within the region and globally.