Climate Change, Israel and the Middle East: Can the Region Be Part of the Solution?

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Hotter and drier than most parts of the world, the Middle East could soon see climate change exacerbate food and water shortages, aggravate social inequalities, and drive displacement and political destabilization. And as renewable energy eclipses fossil fuels, oil rich countries in the Middle East will see their wealth diminish. Amidst these imminent risks is a call to action for regional leaders. Could countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates harness the region's immense potential for solar energy and emerge as vanguards of global climate action?

Prof. Dan Rabinowitz surveys regional climate models and identifies the potential impact on socioeconomic disparities, population movement, and political instability. Offering more than warning and fear, he highlights a potentially brighter future―a recent shift across the Middle East toward renewable energy. With his deep knowledge of the region and knack for presenting scientific data with clarity, Rabinowitz makes a sober yet surprisingly optimistic investigation of opportunity arising from a looming crisis.

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Prof. Dan Rabinovitz earned his BSc in Environmental Studies from King's College London in 1982 and his PhD in Social Anthropology from Cambridge in 1991 with a pioneering ethnographic study of Palestinians in Nazareth. Rabinovitz published books with Cambridge University Press, University of California Berkeley Press, Stanford University Press, Ashgate London and leading Israeli publishers. In his most recent book, The Power of Deserts: Climate Change, the Middle East and the Promise of a Post-oil Era, he makes the counterintuitive argument that 200 oil princes in the Persian Gulf might save us all from climate chaos.

Rabinovitz served as president of the Israeli Anthropological Association, and was and is active in many different NGOs, among many: Greenpeace Mediterranean, Greenpeace UK, Life and Environment.  Currently he is Chair of the Israeli Association for Environmental Justice.

Over the years Prof. Rabinovitz published more than 300 Op-Ed pieces in Haaretz and is a frequent guest on TV and Radio news shows.

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Climate Change, Israel and the Middle East: Can the Region Be Part of the Solution?

‍

Hotter and drier than most parts of the world, the Middle East could soon see climate change exacerbate food and water shortages, aggravate social inequalities, and drive displacement and political destabilization. And as renewable energy eclipses fossil fuels, oil rich countries in the Middle East will see their wealth diminish. Amidst these imminent risks is a call to action for regional leaders. Could countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates harness the region's immense potential for solar energy and emerge as vanguards of global climate action?

Prof. Dan Rabinowitz surveys regional climate models and identifies the potential impact on socioeconomic disparities, population movement, and political instability. Offering more than warning and fear, he highlights a potentially brighter future―a recent shift across the Middle East toward renewable energy. With his deep knowledge of the region and knack for presenting scientific data with clarity, Rabinowitz makes a sober yet surprisingly optimistic investigation of opportunity arising from a looming crisis.

‍

Prof. Dan Rabinovitz earned his BSc in Environmental Studies from King's College London in 1982 and his PhD in Social Anthropology from Cambridge in 1991 with a pioneering ethnographic study of Palestinians in Nazareth. Rabinovitz published books with Cambridge University Press, University of California Berkeley Press, Stanford University Press, Ashgate London and leading Israeli publishers. In his most recent book, The Power of Deserts: Climate Change, the Middle East and the Promise of a Post-oil Era, he makes the counterintuitive argument that 200 oil princes in the Persian Gulf might save us all from climate chaos.

Rabinovitz served as president of the Israeli Anthropological Association, and was and is active in many different NGOs, among many: Greenpeace Mediterranean, Greenpeace UK, Life and Environment.  Currently he is Chair of the Israeli Association for Environmental Justice.

Over the years Prof. Rabinovitz published more than 300 Op-Ed pieces in Haaretz and is a frequent guest on TV and Radio news shows.