THIS ISSUE THIS ● Sector to Yemen'sfuture ● Ocean Acidification Khettara: a Traditionalyetviable Irrigationoption
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Volume 13 - Number 2 February – March 2017 £4 THIS ISSUE: Environment ● West Asia and the Global Environment Outlook ● Ocean acidification● The political ecology of virtual water in Palestine ● The main challenge to Yemen's future ● The challenges of integrating off-grid electricity in Oman's domestic sector ● Sustainable energy planning in MENA ● The evolution of the Nile regulatory regime ● Khettara: a traditional yet viable irrigation option ● PLUS Events in London Volume 13 - Number 2 February – March 2017 £4 THIS ISSUE: Environment ● West Asia and the Global Environment Outlook ● Ocean acidification● The political ecology of virtual water in Palestine ● The main challenge to Yemen's future ● Can Oman’s domestic electricity go off-grid? ● Sustainable energy planning in MENA ● The evolution of the Nile regulatory regime ● Khettara : a traditional yet viable irrigation option ● PLUS Events in London Ibrahim El Dessouki, m3, salteries, 2006. Courtesy of About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) Bibliotheca Alexandrina The London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle Volume 13 – Number 2 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defined and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. February – March 2017 With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. The LMEI also has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle Editorial Board East. 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First, it is based in Dr Sarah Stewart London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the SOAS Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Dr Shelagh Weir at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Independent Researcher and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Coordinating Editor Megan Wang LMEI Staff: Subscriptions: Listings Vincenzo Paci Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to The Middle East in London, please visit: Designer Executive Officer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affiliation/ or contact the Shahla Geramipour Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci LMEI office. The Middle East in London is published Administrative Assistant Aki Elborzi five times a year by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS Letters to the Editor: Publisher and Please send your letters to the editor at Editorial Office Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) The London Middle East Institute or email [email protected] SOAS University of London Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East MBI Al Jaber Building, in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA United Kingdom views of authors and do not reflect the views of their T: +44 (0)20 7898 4330 organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's E: [email protected] Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the ISSN 1743-7598 LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims made by advertisers. Contents LMEI Board of Trustees 4 15 Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) EDITORIAL Sustainable energy planning Director, SOAS in MENA: a system of systems Professor Richard Black, SOAS 5 approach Dr John Curtis Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT Maral Mahlooji et al Dr Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS West Asia and the Global Mr Alan Jenkins Environment Outlook 17 Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Iyad Abumoghli The evolution of the Nile Dr Hanan Morsy European Bank for Reconstruction regulatory regime and Development 7 Ahmed Tayia et al Professor Scott Redford, SOAS Dr Barbara Zollner ENVIRONMENT Birkbeck College Ocean acidification: is the 19 environment of the MENA Khettara: a traditional yet LMEI Advisory Council region already ruined? viable irrigation option Nathalie Hilmi et al Anna Sowa Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem 9 21 H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait The political ecology of water in BOOKS IN BRIEF Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Arab International Women’s Forum Palestine Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa María J. Beltrán 24 President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan EVENTS IN LONDON King’s College and SOAS 11 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS The main challenge to Yemen’s Mr Farad Azima future: war or water scarcity? NetScientific Plc Dr Noel Brehony Helen Lackner MENAS Associates Ltd. Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society 13 HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud The challenges of integrating Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan off-grid electricity in Oman's Mr Paul Smith Chairman, Eversheds International domestic sector Juman Al-Saqlawi et al Founding Patron and Donor of the LMEI Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber MBI Al Jaber Foundation February – March 2017 The Middle East in London 3 EDITORIAL Dear Reader NASA image forecasts how global temperature might change up to the year 2100 under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios Hamid Pouran, Hassan Hakimian, LMEI his is the third issue of The Middle Nathali Hilmi exemplifies the role of make significant reductions in its carbon East in London in as many years climate change on ocean acidification emissions and provide alternative clean that aims to highlight MENA’s and its effects on MENA and highlights energies as a viable option for households. Tenvironmental problems. As readers the importance of including both Ahmed Tayia’s article is about one of will know, the region has experienced macroeconomic and microeconomic the most important river basins in the heightened conflict and instability analysis when environmental issues are world: the Nile Basin. He examines how in recent years, which has arguably discussed. Maria Jesus Beltrán reflects on transboundary cooperation has formed overshadowed other pressing challenges the complexities and political ecology of over centuries, and the role that historical such as the state of its environment. virtual water in Palestine, reminding us of beliefs and social institutions play in Reflecting the desire to address this the socioeconomic aspects of virtual water facilitating (or sometimes even hindering) imbalance, this was the theme of LMEI’s trade and how power relations affect it. the development of a functional system October 2016 conference marking Helen Lackner reminds us that in addition among different stakeholders in the SOAS’s Centenary this year. The MENA to the devastating, ongoing war in Yemen, Basin. Anna Sowa tells us about khettara Environment Conference was a unique the country also suffers from depleted as a traditional system of irrigation that opportunity to bring together climate and water resources that will jeopardize its has been used in some MENA countries natural scientists, environmental engineers, future regardless of the outcome of the for centuries. She demonstrates this in social scientists and policymakers from current conflict. the context of her short documentary multidisciplinary backgrounds to focus on Maral Mahlooji writes about finding film,Aghbalou – The Source of Water, how to address and mitigate the region’s renewable energy alternatives for the that explores khettara in a small river environmental challenges. fossil fuel-dominated energy sector in oasis in the Todgha Valley in Morocco. In this issue, we cover some of the MENA countries. Currently only 6 per We end with this piece which highlights subjects that were presented and discussed cent of the total electricity in this region and documents the local communities’ in this conference. In Insight, Iyad is generated by renewables. She suggests concerns about the future of their water Abumoghli discusses the 6th edition of the that finding the most viable clean energy security. Global Environment Outlook, GEO-6, for option is a site-specific task. Juman West Asia. He provides an overview of the Al-Saqlawi sheds light on the potential current state of the environment in the possibility of relying on solar energy in region and describes ways to reverse the Oman. She examines the challenges that perceived