ABSTRACT
This chapter uncovers societal vulnerability through the lenses of environmental change and human conflict. By seeing human security as freedom not just from violence – although that itself is elusive, given the prevalence of wars in the MENA – but also fear, hunger, and other forms of deprivation, we can appreciate why climate change and ecological degradation is so relevant to entire societies. The region’s aridity means that most populations suffer water scarcity; potential environmental impacts of rising temperatures, increased drought, and lower rainfall puts extreme stress on the food supply and public health. Climate change, hence, represents an existential threat to human security, not least because it also raises the propensity for conflict. In the end, unless regional communities adjust to systemic worsening of land, air, and water resources, future prosperity (and perhaps even survival) will be an assumption needing qualification.
