Global Hotspots and the Environment

I recently noted the role of environmental woes in North Korea’s current situation.  The Middle East also faces serious environmental problems, as a recent TNR posting discusses:

Does the world really need more headaches in the Middle East? No, of course not, but rising global temperatures are likely to create a few more regardless. According to a new report from the Institute for Sustainable Development, the Levant is currently on pace to get hotter and drier in the next four decades, and climate change threatens to “reduce the availability of scarce water resources, increase food insecurity, hinder economic growth, and lead to large-scale population movements” in the area that spans Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Syria. An area, mind you, where, “in many places, demand for water already outstrips supply.”

On top of climate change, the region is also facing huge projected population increases (nearly doubling by 2050), which will also add stress to the environment.

Climate change impacts, Middle East, population growth