Middle East and North Africa Contributions to Climate Change

I. Contributions to Climate Change
There has been many cases in which the Middle East and North Africa has contributed to the Climate Change. Human forces cause most of these contributions to climate change. Saddam Hussein draining the wetlands of Southern Iraq has been destroying the traditional water cycles of the marshes. Yemen wastes 40% of their agricultural water supply on Qat, which will lead to Yemen’s capital, Somra, to be the first capital in the world to run out of water. The Middle East is most common known for its oil in which that it supports 40% of the World’s natural gas reserves (zawya.com). Much of the oil will burn off Carbon Dioxide into the air causing Global Warming, which increases the climate.

II. Impacts of Climate Change
A combination of Higher temperatures and reduced precipitation will increase the occurrence of droughts. It is further estimated that an additional 80 –100 million people will be exposed to water stress by 2025. This is likely to result in increased pressure on groundwater resources, which as mentioned above is already being used in most areas above aquifers’ sustainable levels. In addition, crop modeling results indicate that climate change will have a negative effect on crop yields in the Middle East and North Africa. By 2050 the region will face yield declines of up to 30 percent for rice, about 47 percent for maize and 20 percent for wheat (International Food Policy Research Institute). In urban areas in North Africa, a temperature increase of 1-3 degrees could expose 6–25 million people to coastal flooding. In addition, heat waves, an increased “heat island effect,” water scarcity, loss of arable land, decreasing water quality, and worsening air quality are likely to affect public health, and generally lead to challenging living conditions.

III.Proposed Solutions