Al-Mizan Arabic

يقدم العهد نظرة إسلامية للبيئة في محاولة لتعزيز الإجراءات المحلية والإقليمية والدولية لمكافحة الأزمات الكوكبية الثلاثية التي حددتها الأمم المتحدة على أنها تغير المناخ وفقدان التنوع البيولوجي والتلوث. إنه مسعى عالمي لإشراك المسلمين من جميع مستويات المجتمع في تطوير واعتماد هذه الدعوة. الميزان-العهد من أجل الأرض هو إعادة صياغة للمبادئ التي تحكم حماية الطبيعة في شكل يلبي التحديات الحالية. إنه يفحص الأخلاق الكامنة وراء الزخرفة الاجتماعية للوجود البشري ويستفسر عن كيفية إحيائهم اليوم وهم يعملون في وئام مع نبضات قلب العالم الطبيعي. إن حماية البيئة متأصلة بعمق في عروق الإسلام. يتعلق الأمر بالسلوك الشخصي وكيف يتجلى في ارتباطنا بالآخرين وأيضا عن مراعاة علاقتنا بالعالم الطبيعي والكائنات الحية الأخرى. نشأت هذه المبادئ من الأسس التي وضعها النبي محمد إلى مجموعة من القواعد والمؤسسات التي أظهرت تعبيرا عن الحياة التي كانت شاملة حقا. لقد كان مبنيا على القرآن ويمكن تقطيره إلى ثلاث فئات هي تشجيع الصالح العام ، ومنع الفعل الخاطئ ، والتصرف باعتدال في جميع الأوقات: (وَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلْوَزْنَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ وَلَا تُخْسِرُواْ ٱلْمِيزَانَ)، الرحمن 9 ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُ (1) عَلَّمَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ (2) خَلَقَ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ (3) عَلَّمَهُ ٱلۡبَيَانَ (4) ٱلشَّمۡسُ وَٱلۡقَمَرُ بِحُسۡبَانٖ (5) وَٱلنَّجۡمُ وَٱلشَّجَرُ يَسۡجُدَانِ (6) وَٱلسَّمَآءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ ٱلۡمِيزَانَ (7) أَلَّا تَطۡغَوۡاْ فِي ٱلۡمِيزَانِ (8) وَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلۡوَزۡنَ بِٱلۡقِسۡطِ وَلَا تُخۡسِرُواْ ٱلۡمِيزَانَ (9) عثمان لولن، وفضل خالد، وآخرون. المؤسسة الإسلامية للإيكولوجيا وعلوم البيئة، بيرمنغهام، المملكة المتحدة.

Natural Resouurce Governance in Light of the 2030 Agenda

This study was made during the 55th Postgraduate Training Programme of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) (formerly German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)) in the “Growth, Environment, Inequality, Governance: Implementation of the 2030 Agenda” research project funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

We thank our Jordanian local field guides, translators and transcribers who made this research possible.

Dr Annabelle Houdret, Dr Waltina Scheumann, Dr Tina Zintl, Dr Anita Breuer, Dr Markus Loewe and Dr Srinivasa Srigiri at the DIE have provided valuable ideas and suggestions for our research. We would like to express our tremendous appreciation to the last three colleagues named for critically reviewing the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. Special thanks also go to Anita Breuer for her ongoing help in setting up and interpreting the social network analysis.

We thank Dr Regine Mehl and Andrea Herder for their logistical and moral support throughout the research. We are additionally grateful for the support from Prof. Dr Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Prof. Dr Imme Scholz and Margret Heyen of the DIE Directorate during the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Finally, we specially thank our interview partners who wholeheartedly welcomed us and contributed their time and indispensable insights to this study.

Towards Developing a SEMED Water Knowledge Platform

At the cross-roads of three continents, the Mediterranean region is one of the most historic, culturally rich and diverse regions in the world. Endowed with unique geographical, ecological and geopolitical features, it benefits from the continuous exchanges across peoples and territories.

In a constantly changing world, the Mediterranean faces serious natural and human-made challenges, including water scarcity, population growth, migration, industrialization, urbanization, pollution, and climate and other environmental change, along with the proliferation of energy-intensive lifestyles.

These issues entail a rather blurry picture for the present and the future of the Mediterranean region, posing threats also to its water security. Not far from the Mare Nostrum, the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) extending, south of the Mediterranean Sea, from Morocco to Egypt and, east of the Mediterranean Sea, from Yemen across the countries of the Arabian Peninsula all the way to Syria is also facing a particularly alarming situation of water, making it as one of the most water insecure regions of the planet. Annual renewable water supplies in MENA are approximately 620 billion cubic meters (BCM), compared to Africa’s almost 4000 BCM, Asia’s 12,000 BCM, and a world total of approximately 43,000 BCM. In 2015, the World bank estimated that MENA’s per capita annual water availability is estimated on average of only 1,200 cubic meters, around six times less than the worldwide average of 7,000 cubic meters which is below the amount needed to prevent a significant constraint on socio-economic development, making the region the most water stressed in the world.

Water Diplomacy in the ME - INWRDAM

This White Paper is based on research, analyses and interviews with key water diplomacy experts, including representatives of the Blue Peace Management Committee.

We would like to acknowledge the support of the key experts: Prof. Dr. Ahmet Mete Saatçı, Eng. Maysoon Zoubi, Dr. Hakam Al-Alami, Dr. Zeina Majdalani, Eng. Maha Rasheed Alzaidi, Prof. Dr. Elias Salameh and Prof. Dr. Nadheer Ansari.

This paper was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) as part of the activities of the Blue Peace initiative in the Middle East (BPME).

Water Politics in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin_INWRDAM_KAS

The Euphrates-Tigris basin, encompassing regions of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and parts of the Tigris basin within Iran, has experienced heightened diplomatic strain since the 1960s due to unilateral irrigation activities impacting river flows, and compounded by geopolitical discord. Cold War affiliations, with Turkey’s NATO alignment opposing Syria and Iraq’s USSR associations, infused additional complexity into water disputes. And the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) issue and territorial claims further fueled discord among riparians until the mid-2000s. The 1980s and 1990s marked peak conflict, with water being utilized as a strategic leverage. Notably, a 1987 accord between Turkey and Syria addressed water allocation and PKK tensions, illustrating the intertwining of water management with broader geopolitical issues.