MENA (or WANA, West Asia & North Africa) is a geographical region stretching from Morocco on the west, across North Africa, into Arabia and Iran, and in some versions, further east to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakstan and the smaller nations in between. The region is predominantly Muslim, though with many different ethnicities. Different climate regimes apply from west to east, and north to south. The classification is used more administratively than anything else, for military and disaster planning. However, regions such as North Africa (known, without Egypt, as the Maghreb) and Arabia can be looked at as climatic units.
Dark green: traditional Middle East. Kelly green: US State Dept. concept of the Greater Middle East (2004). Light green: nations sometimes associated with the Middle East.
The collective population is close to 600 million, and the countries which make it up are largely petrostates. Education tends to be very low, with roughly 40% of adult males and 50% of adult females having attended less than one year of school. Most of the region is hot and arid, from the Sahara in the west to the deserts of Iran and Pakistan.
Köppen-Geiger climate zones, Middle East 1980-2016
The region’s primary vulnerability to climate change is in
water scarcity, which, combined with increased temperature is likely to make
large areas uninhabitable by 2100. MENA itself accounts for roughly 9% of
global CO2 emissions, largely from the energy sector, 40% of this
coming from two countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Sea level rise is yet another
threat, with Alexandria in Egypt lying partly below sea level already.
Predicted Köppen-Geiger climate zones, Middle East, 2071-2100.
Meanwhile, MENA houses some of the world’s more retrograde governments with respect to recognition of climate change. The remaining countries which have not ratified the Paris Agreement are all in it: Libya, Eritrea, Yemen and Iran.
Tomorrow: introduction to Egypt.
Be brave, and be well.
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