Middle East Transformation Initiative
العمل لمستقبل الشرق الأوسط
The Middle East is on the cusp of a transformation. The region’s economies, environment, politics, and international relations are all shifting simultaneously. While the looming energy transition is the most obvious driver, a climate transition is also underway. These two combine with other factors to create an impending labor transition, and the three will mix with demographics and global communications technologies to create profound social transitions. The consequences hold the promise for more robust and resilient systems, but they also threaten to sharpen food insecurity, destroy livelihoods, and force the migration of tens of millions of people within the Middle East and outside of it.
CSIS is working hand-in-hand with regional leaders and experts, as well as with leading thinkers from around the world to tackle some of the Middle East’s most important challenges in a major new initiative. The first phase of this project focuses on water security and the potential of civil society in the MENA region.
The Middle East Transformation Initiative is supported by Bahaa Rafic Hariri.
Sub-Projects
Featured Analysis

Scaling Out: Lebanon’s Civil Society Joins Forces to Tackle the Waste Crisis
Commentary by Martin Pimentel — September 15, 2023
Running Dry: Exploring the Water Crisis in Syria

Photo: MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP/Getty Images
Whose Water Is It Anyway: How Political Violence and Corruption Has Become Iraq’s Existential Challenge
Even as dead fish litter the expanding shores of Lake Habbaniyah and Lake Razzaza in Iraq, a web of unlicensed fish farms and newly irrigated farmland are emerging nearby. Challenging the forces diverting the lakes’ water is not merely difficult—it is perilous.
Commentary by Natasha Hall and Husam Sobhi — September 12, 2023

No Water Wars?
Commentary by Natasha Hall — June 26, 2023

KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images
Profile: Arab Youth Climate Movement – Qatar
Blog Post by Will Todman

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images
Event Summary: Water and Conflict Panel at UNGA 78
Blog Post by Natasha Hall
All Middle East Transformation Initiative Content
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Gaza's Solar Power in Wartime
Commentary by Will Todman Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jennifer Jun — November 21, 2023
I Am Not a Dump: Mobilization and Environmental Action in Tunisia
Blog Post by Will Todman — November 8, 2023
Event Summary: Water and Conflict Panel at UNGA 78
Blog Post by Natasha Hall — October 31, 2023
Profile: Arab Youth Climate Movement – Qatar
Blog Post by Will Todman — September 20, 2023
Roundtable Summary: Civil Society and Environmental Action in the Gulf
Blog Post by Will Todman — September 20, 2023
Running Dry: Exploring the Water Crisis in Syria
Event — September 19, 2023
“Whose Water Is It Anyway”: Audio Brief with Natasha Hall
Podcast Episode by Natasha Hall — September 19, 2023

Event Summary: Running Dry: Exploring the Water Crisis in Syria
Blog Post by Natasha Hall — September 19, 2023
Scaling Out: Lebanon’s Civil Society Joins Forces to Tackle the Waste Crisis
Commentary by Martin Pimentel — September 15, 2023
Event Summary: Advisory Board Meeting on Water Security in the Middle East
Newsletter by Natasha Hall — September 13, 2023