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All opinion
All opinion
18 Aug 2022
The hidden impact of cryptocurrencies on the environment
One might think that the next generation of technological advances, such as cryptocurrency and cloud computing, will bolster advanced solutions to address developmental challenges, yet, along with benefits these technologies have major drawbacks.
On the positive end, cryptocurrency can provide a dec...
Author : Reem Alhaddadin
13 Jan 2022
Year 2030, minus the climate crisis
It is 2028 and the main media headline is “The battle against climate change is coming to its final act”. In 2030, experts announce that more than 85% of the current global energy is supplied by renewable and efficient clean resources, moreover, the global temperatures are within limits and countri...
Author : Samer Fakhoury
24 Nov 2020
Hydrodiplomatic Tools to Sustain the Jordan River Basin: Underwater Scarcity Conditions
The transboundary Jordan River Basin and its tributaries will always be important for Jordan, considering its religious, environmental, demographic and political signifigance. With annexation plans of the West Bank looming, it is essential to take into consideration that potential conflicts of exist...
Author : Reem Alhaddadin
01 Oct 2020
What's inspiring us - The Origins of the Syrian Conflict: Climate Change and Human Security
Here is our top pick over the recent months, utilised by Dr. Majd Al Naber, Team leader and Senior Researcher at WANA.
The Origins of the Syrian Conflict: Climate Change and Human Security, Marwa Daoudy (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Marwa Daoudy is a native Syrian scholar of environmental secu...
22 Apr 2020
Learning from Corona: building resilience for the climate crisis
Learning from Corona: building resilience for the climate crisis
15 organisations from four continents urge everyone to use this moment to prepare earnestly for a crisis we know is going to get much worse: the climate emergency. The coronavirus shows us the vulnerability of global interdependence a...
31 Mar 2020
العالم ما بعد "كورونا": إعادة تعريف التنمية البشرية
كحال كثيرين حول العالم، أحاول التكيف مع متطلبات الحياة الشخصية والمهنية المصاحبة لانتشار فيروس كورونا. الأزمة العالمية تعيد تعريف وتحفيز العديد من الخصال والمبادئ والقيم البشرية، مثل العناية الشخصية، والتوازن الحياتي، والتطوير الذاتي، ومساعدة الآخرين، والاهتمام بالبيئة وغيرها.
لنأخذ حماية البيئة مثا...
Author : Ruba Al Zubi
08 Feb 2018
National or International Drivers: What Motivates Jordanian Youth?
Youth make up over 70 per cent of the Jordanian population. For many university graduates, entering the job market is a struggle due to the high unemployment rate, the lack of opportunities that match their skills, and a tendency of employers to value connections over merit. Securing a job with an i...
Author : Reem Alhaddadin
30 Aug 2017
Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Jordan: Where Are We Now?
Jordan faces dire environmental challenges and is ranked the second most water-scarce country in the world. An already difficult situation is being exacerbated by a high influx of refugees and the effects of climate change. Jordan is also one of the few energy resource-poor countries in West Asia. I...
Author : Lara Nassar
20 Apr 2017
The Paris Agreement: A Gleam of Light
The impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt by populations world over. The World Bank predicts that certain cities will become unliveable, agricultural viability will decrease and pressure on already scarce water resources will escalate, potentially increasing migration and the risk of...
Author : Lara Nassar
09 Aug 2016
The Value of Membership Chains: The CAN Arab World Network
Today, the fight for action to tackle climate change is at its peak. Action must be strategically coordinated, in order to create a higher impact. Here, the importance of an action like the Climate Action Network shines.
On the 28 of May 2016, the West Asia North Africa (WANA) Institute attended its...
Author : Kamal Kakish
26 May 2016
"An Unhappy Marriage That Cannot Afford A Divorce": The Need To Advance Energy and Water Management in WANA
Last month, I was fortunate enough to participate in a workshop that brought together over 30 experts to discuss integrated energy and water planning jointly hosted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, the Wuppertal Institute and the West Asia-North Africa Institute.
The discussions showcased how...
Author : Lara Nassar
07 Jan 2016
The power of local knowledge in resource management
As an integral part of our history, our traditions give us a sense of identity and belonging, allowing us to evolve while retaining something original. Traditional practices teach us to learn from past mistakes, and build on successful examples. But tradition is not only limited to cultural and soci...
Author : Kamal Kakish
07 Dec 2015
Charting a new course in environmental good governance: Natural resource management, Al Hima & Islam
Water insecurity is emerging as one of the most imminent threats to the human environment in West Asia-North Africa (WANA). For instance, by 2025, water withdrawal is projected to increase by at least 50 percent, driving most countries in the region into food insecurity. The dominant frameworks for ...
23 Nov 2015
The relationships between food, water and displacement
It was Benjamin Franklin who said that when the well is dry, we know the worth of water. The well has been dry in West Asia — North Africa (WANA) for quite some time, and the people living here know the worth of water painfully well. Clean water and food are not given goods for millions of people in...
15 Nov 2015
The case for an Islamic sustainable development model
When the post-2015 agenda was adopted in the form of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it ushered in a new era of international development cooperation. It was a welcome achievement, and one that was preceded by perhaps the most inclusive process in the history of the United Nations; each mem...
13 Sep 2015
Engaging Muslim Leadership in the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals
The emergence of the market-led development model has resulted in degradation and exploitation of the world’s natural capital. Since the industrial revolution, humans have consumed most of the non-renewable fossil fuels developed over the last 250 million years. This has been done in the name of eco...
Author : Dr. Odeh Al-Jayyousi
02 Sep 2015
Sustainable Natural Resource Management: Islamic Perspectives
Convergence and unity between natural sciences and social sciences is needed to inform and reform the discourse for water and land management. Harnessing the core values of Islam can inspire a fresh narrative that can inform a new model for sustainable water and natural resources management. The ea...
Author : Dr. Odeh Al-Jayyousi
11 Aug 2015
WANA Research Fellow Kamal Kakish presents research at HIMA projects and natural reserves in Lebanon
In preparation for the upcoming publication of his research on the topic of Rangelands management practices in the West Asia-North Africa Region, last week Kamal Kakish travelled to Lebanon as part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature delegation to present to the delegation and ...
06 Aug 2015
Reflections: Blue Peace and promoting a culture of efficient natural resources management in the WANA region
In March in Amman, more than 130 stakeholders gathered from around the region to debate how new evidence on the water-peace nexus might forge new solutions to shared challenges. The water crisis in the region is both evidenced and broadly admitted. The Arab states have the lowest freshwater availab...
Author : Dr Erica Harper
21 Jul 2015
What's Inspiring WANA - A Lesson From Singapore
In September 2014 I had the privilege to participate in a unique and enriching experience: the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW). The event is a platform for discussion, debate and the exchange of ideas between both senior water practitioners and youth from all over the world who are eager t...
Author : Kamal Kakish
11 Jun 2015
WANA Institute visits the International Community School for Green Week
On June 2nd three Research Fellows from the WANA Institute visited the International Community School (ICS) in Amman during their annual Green Week. Kim Wilkinson from the Human Security team, and Laylla Rkiouak and Heather Elaydi from the Green Economy team, ran an interactive workshop for students...
Author : Heather Elaydi
26 Apr 2015
What’s Inspiring WANA: Guest Speaker Francesca de Châtel
The WANA Institute and Strategic Foresight Group were proud to host Francesca de Châtel as a guest speaker at the international conference ‘Exploring the Water-Peace Nexus — Blue Peace in West Asia’ in March.
Inspired by her talk, I have found her recent paper equally compelling in drawing to our at...
Author : Sean D. Thomas
22 Dec 2014
Corporate Social Responsibility: the answer to WANA’s development prayers?
As the next round of development targets are agreed to we must ensure that partnerships with the private sector are designed to generate maximum impact for the social development issues that matter most.
Over the past 15 years, the world has benchmarked its development progress against the United Na...
Author : Julia O'Brien
26 Nov 2014
How much water do we really use?
There is no shortage of data and analysis showing the world’s deteriorating water supply. What has been harder to measure, however, is the full and actual quantity of water currently being used at the individual, industry and country level. Water foot printing is a new methodology that exposes the t...
Author : Sebastian Klos
04 Oct 2014
Water security in the WANA Region: a weapon of mass destruction?
Jordan’s water availability ranks among the lowest in the world. This leads to a severe overuse of Jordan’s renewable and fossil groundwater, exacerbated by inefficient and uncontrolled use of scarce water resources. Demographic expansion, migratory influxes and economic growth have increased water ...