The Middle East and North Africa are susceptible to some of the more severe consequences of climate change including extreme weather patterns, heat waves, extensive drought and rising sea levels, and, Climate change could make previously habitable sections of North Africa and the Middle East that were uninhabitable. Meanwhile,, most of the conversation and coverage of climate change and other factors which have exacerbated living conditions for tens of millions of people is often depicted as a “ global security” issue for the west

So we have decided to start a new series looking at the intersections of climate change, war, politics, oil driven economies, and how the overlays of these factors impact the region’s ecosystems, human health, agriculture, and fisheries, and other aspects of people’s livelihood. We will also bring you the voices of environmental justice activists, journalists, authors who are working to save their communities.

This week we speak with Palestinian environmental researcher and activist Muna Dajani the impacts of climate change in the MENA region and underlying reasons for the water crisis in Palestine!

Guest:

Muna Dajani is a policy member of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, and a Palestinian environmental researcher and activist based in Jerusalem..

She is currently a PhD student at the London School of Economics (LSE) at the department of Geography and Environment.

Her research aims to identify the link between identity, resilience and farming under the military occupation, where farming acquires political subjectivity as a form of cultural resistance. Her research interests are environmental politics, community-led resource management, and social impacts of climate change.