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The report issued a warning about what it described as a “catastrophe”, which is creeping into 3 Arab countries while other countries in the region are facing it.
Al-Arabiya television has released details of the report prepared by the Arab Environment and Development Forum (AFED) on climate change in the Middle East.
The report warned of the exacerbation of climate change in the Middle East, and a number of countries in the region have been exposed to a range of adverse weather conditions, from snowfall to flash flooding, to the outbreak of forest fires and severe heat waves.
According to the AFED report, the region is expected to face more challenges caused by climate change in the coming years, leading to higher temperatures, droughts, lack of water availability and sea level rise.
The report notes that “water availability” is one of the serious issues facing the Arab world, as 18 out of 22 Arab countries are facing severe water shortages.
The report warns that there are 3 countries, namely: Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, which run a great risk of losing the fertility of their lands.
The three countries are considered the most fertile lands in the Arab world and the deterioration of water supplies in the three countries will be a major “disaster” for the region and the world.
The report attributed this to the degradation of natural aquifers and the gradual drying up of rivers.
The report also identified sea level rise as a major threat in Arab countries, because coastal areas are vulnerable to flooding and erosion, as well as increased soil salinity and coastal aquifers, and this poses a serious threat, as a number of large Arab cities are located in coastal areas.
The report states that “a sea level rise of only one meter will directly affect more than 41,000 square kilometers of Arab coastal land.”
The report warns that the Arab region is already seeing an increase in extreme weather conditions, drawing attention to the heat waves and bushfires that Lebanon witnessed last summer.
Last July, cities in the Middle East experienced extreme temperatures, such as Baghdad, Basra and Damascus.
A dangerous flood also engulfed Sudan, killing more than 100 people and displacing hundreds of thousands.
The Sudanese Minister of Labor and Social Development said the floods broke previous records in 1946 and 1988, highlighting fears of high levels of rainfall and flooding.
Additionally, in the Gulf region, heavy rains flooded roads and transport disruptions, for example in January 2020, when heavy rains caused flooding in the UAE.
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