Finding tailored solutions to climate change, conflict in Mideast are urgent challenges for COP28

The COP28 UAE logo on display during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, Jan. 17, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 23 May 2023
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Finding tailored solutions to climate change, conflict in Mideast are urgent challenges for COP28

  • Global action for region’s socio-political, economic precarity needed, say experts
  • Limited access to climate financing is biggest obstacle to development

DUBAI: With Earth on the precipice as the devastating impacts of climate change loom ominously, it has become an urgent imperative to respond to this rapidly transforming world. As the international community prepares for the 28th Conference of the Parties, or COP28, hosted by the UAE, it is crucial to underscore the significance of this global gathering in addressing the complex interplay between climate resilience and conflict-affected regions.

A recent policy report released jointly by the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, and the Norwegian Red Cross, sheds light on the alarming exacerbation of humanitarian needs in the region. This report, titled “Making Adaptation Work: Addressing the compounding impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, and conflict in the Near and Middle East,” sheds light on the dire situation faced by communities in the region.

The ICRC report emphasizes that climate change is not solely an environmental issue but a significant threat to human security, further exacerbating existing vulnerabilities. The report highlights the intricate connections between marginalized communities, armed conflicts, and humanitarian crises, emphasizing the urgent need to address these interconnected challenges.

To delve into the intricate interdependencies between climate resilience, conflict-affected regions, and the imperative need for climate financing, a panel of experts convened in Dubai recently to explore this multidimensional crisis. The participants of the forum included Clare Dalton, the ICRC’s head of delegation in the UAE, Trond H.G. Rudi, charge d’affaires of the Norwegian Embassy in the UAE, and Helena de Jong, senior advisor of the UAE COP28 team.

Climate financing for conflict-affected regions

In conflict-affected countries, the challenge lies not only in combating climate change but also in navigating complex socio-political dynamics. Dalton emphasized that climate financing must be effectively channeled to countries grappling with conflict. The outcome she hopes to see from COP28 in the UAE is that “climate financing is better directed to countries experiencing conflict in ways that they can practically apply and use.” However, the current state of affairs presents obstacles, such as unreliable banking systems and numerous other factors that impede effective climate financing.

The report sheds light on the formidable barriers faced in accessing multilateral climate finance for state-led adaptation projects in conflict-affected countries. These challenges materialize as a result of stringent governance prerequisites and a certain aversion toward investing in volatile contexts.

As of January 2022, a mere 19 single-country projects in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have successfully secured funding approval, with the disbursed amount accounting for less than 0.5 percent of the global allocation of climate project funds. This stark disparity underscores the pressing need to address the limited access and utilization of climate financing in conflict-affected regions.

To overcome these obstacles, Dalton advocates for the collaboration of all sectors of society, emphasizing the necessity for concerted efforts in order to develop tangible, implementable solutions.

While the ICRC acknowledges that it operates at the periphery of climate negotiations, it recognizes the necessity of addressing climate change due to its impact on the regions it serves. Achieving this requires tangible strategies and concrete actions that go beyond mere agreement on the importance of adaptation.

“It’s not the fact that we all agree this needs to happen, but it’s the how. What are some very concrete ways that this could happen tomorrow because it’s needed then after the COP. And I think that happens in two ways because it’s not just in the form of negotiations, but it’s also in providing the space for actors to come together and look at some of these issues. So I think my second expectation is that we find a way to do that. You know, the remaining question is who can help us achieve that outcome. So yeah, money in places like Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, and any of these places that need that support,” Dalton said.

Dalton also touched on how small-scale initiatives play an important role in building community resilience amidst the challenges associated with the de-prioritization of climate action in conflict-affected settings, citing solutions such as education on sustainable agricultural practices, and the distribution of climate-resilient seed varieties to strengthen food security and build community resilience.

Armed conflicts exert a dual impact on the environment, both directly and indirectly, with profound consequences for human well-being. Such conflicts erode environmental governance structures and disrupt societal order, thus perpetuating the conditions conducive to environmental degradation. Consequently, the direct environmental harm caused by conflict and the subsequent degradation of ecological systems undermine the availability of natural resources, rendering communities more susceptible to the repercussions of climate change.

The report presents compelling instances that highlight how deliberate acts of environmental degradation can heighten the immediate jeopardy faced by significant population groups. A notable example is the seizure of Iraq’s Mosul Dam in 2014, which precipitated a looming risk of dam collapse. The accompanying threat to intentionally destroy the dam and flood downstream Baghdad underscores the urgent requirement for increased vigilance and accountability in safeguarding critical infrastructure systems and protecting vulnerable communities.

Dalton highlighted the imperative of engaging with the inhabitants of conflict-affected regions, acknowledging their lived experiences and incorporating their perspectives into climate resilience initiatives, stating: “We need to listen to those people about what changes they’ve seen, about what solutions they perceive might be.”

This approach recognizes the significance of local knowledge and ensures that adaptation strategies are contextually relevant and responsive to the specific challenges faced by these communities. By fostering connections between local, national, regional and global levels, a comprehensive and integrated framework can be established, incorporating diverse solutions and approaches to address the multifaceted issues arising from climate change and conflict.

“Communities need to understand how they can be part of the solution as well and what they can do in their own way not to make the situation any worse. And that’s exactly the same for humanitarians. We have that ‘do no harm’ principle. How can we respond to people’s needs but without making it any worse for them in terms of the assistance we give?” she said.

Revisiting climate-finance priorities

The report draws attention to the discrepancies between climate finance flows, vulnerability to climate change, and countries torn by conflict. De Jong, the senior advisor of the UAE COP28 team, highlighted a distressing statistic: out of the 46 countries listed as least developed, 22 are affected by conflict and fragility.

Paradoxically, these conflict-ridden nations receive the least amount of climate finance, exacerbating their vulnerability to both conflict and climate change. This predicament perpetuates a vicious cycle, hindering governments’ capacity to tackle these intertwined challenges effectively. To break this cycle, De Jong advocates for a paradigm shift in climate financing, with a renewed focus on prioritizing conflict-affected nations. She highlights the importance of engaging climate finance providers, multilateral development banks, humanitarian organizations, and peacebuilding actors in finding solutions.

“This is something that we would like to see changed. It’s not easy. This is a fairly complicated problem. But the advantage of focusing on this as a COP28 presidency is that we can talk to all these climate finance providers, so we can talk to the multilateral development banks, and we can talk to humanitarian actors and peacebuilding actors in this space to really bring all of them together to look at the solutions. Because the solutions are there. We know that there are plenty of actors that are able to work in these settings,” De Jong said.

Global pact for climate adaptation

To address this imbalance, De Jong proposes a global pact that includes actionable solutions such as streamlined application procedures, adjusted eligibility criteria for conflict-affected actors, and increased flexibility in project locations could drive progress in climate adaptation efforts.

“It won’t be all different at COP28, but we do really want to see a very big step forward at COP28. And this could, for example — and that would be my dream outcome — be in the form of some sort of global pact that all of these actors would sign up to that doesn’t include just principles that we all agree on, but that also would include at least a couple of solutions to these issues,” De Jong said.

“Our proposal is mainly the global pact that I mentioned. So this would focus more, I guess, on changes in the policy spectrum. But it could, for example, also include like a regional capacity-strengthening facility that would help governments apply and develop strong adaptation projects that would then basically build a pipeline of adaptation projects which would help them in the long run, so it wouldn’t necessarily include a fund,” De Jong said.

With the presidency of COP28, the UAE aims to create a platform that brings together various actors to collectively explore solutions. De Jong stresses the need to leverage existing momentum for change, emphasizing that COP28 is a stepping stone toward addressing these complex issues comprehensively.


Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect

Iraqi Justice Minister Khaled Shwani speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 3.
Updated 8 sec ago
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Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect

  • Justice Minister Khaled Shwani acknowledged the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards

BAGHDAD: As a general amnesty law takes effect in Iraq, the country’s prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding, housing more than double their intended capacity, the country’s justice minister said in an interview.
Justice Minister Khaled Shwani told The Associated Press on Saturday that Iraq’s 31 prisons currently hold approximately 65,000 inmates, despite the system being built to accommodate only half that number.
He acknowledged that the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards.
“When we took office, overcrowding stood at 300 percent,” he said. “After two years of reform, we’ve reduced it to 200 percent. Our goal is to bring that down to 100 percent by next year in line with international standards.”
Thousands more detainees remain in the custody of security agencies but have not yet been transferred to the Ministry of Justice due to lack of prison capacity. Four new prisons are under construction, Shwani said, while three have been closed in recent years. Two others have been opened and six existing prisons expanded.
The general amnesty law passed in January had strong support from Sunni lawmakers who argue that their community has been disproportionately targeted by terrorism charges, with confessions sometimes extracted under torture.
But opponents say the law would allow the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog group, said in a statement that “the current version of the general amnesty law raises deep concerns over its potential legal and security consequences.”’
Shwani said 2,118 prisoners have been released from the justice ministry’s prisons since the amnesty law took effect, while others had been released from the custody of security agencies before being transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
“We have a committee studying the status of inmates and identifying those who may qualify for release, but the vision is not yet final,” he said. The minister said he expects a “good number” to be released but “cannot specify an exact percentage until we receive clarity from the judiciary on who qualifies for the amnesty.”
Iraq’s prisons house hundreds of foreign nationals, most of them convicted of terrorism-related charges or affiliation with the Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The inmates hail from countries including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Egypt, North African nations, and several European states, as well as a handful of US citizens. Shwani said discussions are underway with several governments to repatriate their citizens, excluding those sentenced to death.
He said inmates have been repatriated under existing agreements with Iran, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom, including 127 Iranian inmates who were recently transferred back to Tehran.
An Iranian who was convicted in the 2022 killing of a US citizen in Baghdad remains in custody, however, Shwani said.
Stephen Edward Troell, 45, a native of Tennessee, was fatally shot in his car in November by assailants as he pulled up to the street where he lived in Baghdad’s central Karrada district with his family. Iranian citizen Mohammed Ali Ridha was convicted in the killing, along with four Iraqis, in what was described as a kidnapping gone wrong.
All executions have been halted following the issuance of the general amnesty law, Shwani said.
Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty and particularly over mass executions carried out without prior notice to lawyers or family members of the prisoners.
Shwani pushed back against the criticisms of prison conditions and of the executions.
“There are strict measures in place for any violations committed against inmates,” he said. “Many employees have been referred for investigation, dismissed, and prosecuted.”
He insisted that the “number of executions carried out is limited — not as high as reported in the media” and said the death penalty is only applied in “crimes that severely threaten national security and public safety,” including inmates convicted in a 2016 bombing attack in Baghdad’s Karrada district that killed hundreds of people, as well as cases of child rape and high-ranking IS leaders.
Executions have been paused to reassess cases under the new amnesty law, he said.


Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities

Updated 33 min 41 sec ago
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Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities

  • Israeli authorities demolish 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village
  • In Ramallah, forces raze a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people

LONDON: Israeli authorities demolished several Palestinian structures, including homes, in occupied West Bank cities on Monday.

Israeli forces demolished two homes in Al-Mughayyir village, north of Ramallah. They also destroyed a 200 sq. meter home in Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya, for building without a permit. Additionally, several structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley.

Wafa reported that Israeli authorities demolished 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village, including homes, water wells, naturally formed caves, agricultural rooms, barns, and solar panels, after forcibly evicting residents.

In Ramallah, forces demolished a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people, while a demolition notice was issued for another house.

In the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli forces destroyed homes and livestock pens belonging to residents in Khirbet Al-Deir, while in Nabi Elias village, it raided several vehicle repair garages, the Wafa news agency reported.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, associated with the Palestinian Authority, reported that Israeli forces or settlers carried out 1,693 attacks on Palestinian towns, their properties, and lands in April.


Woman killed as gunmen attack Damascus nightclub: monitor, witness

People walk past the closed entrance of Al-Karawan nightclub on Damascus’ Saadallah Al-Jabri street on May 5, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 49 min 18 sec ago
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Woman killed as gunmen attack Damascus nightclub: monitor, witness

  • A witness, requesting anonymity for security reasons, said he “heard gunfire at dawn” as he was near the nightclub
  • “I saw a woman’s body, blood stains on the ground, and chaos after the shooting,” he said

DAMASCUS: Armed men opened fire inside a club in Damascus on Monday, killing a woman, according to a witness and a war monitor, the second attack in a week targeting the Syrian capital’s nightlife.
The perpetrators or their motives were unknown. Some Syrians have expressed fears that the country’s new authorities would seek to impose restrictions on public behavior but it was unclear whether the attackers were linked to them.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that “unidentified gunmen attacked the Al-Karawan nightclub in the Hijaz area with automatic weapons and opened fire, killing a woman and wounding others.”
A witness, requesting anonymity for security reasons, said he “heard gunfire at dawn” as he was near the nightclub.
He told AFP that he “did not dare to enter the club until some time after the firing stopped.”
Inside the club, “I saw a woman’s body, blood stains on the ground, and chaos after the shooting,” he said.
Contacted by AFP, the interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the deadly attack.
The club is located in a commercial area in the heart of Damascus, where many licensed nightclubs and bars have been operating for decades.
A resident of the same street said security forces had been monitoring the venue from a vehicle for days.
A local vendor said “there has never been any problem with the nightclub” in the five years he has worked in the area.
Hours before the shooting, a video circulated on social media showing security camera footage from a previous attack on a nightclub in the same area.
The footage, verified by AFP, shows gunmen entering the venue before beating fleeing men and women with their weapons.
Authorities said on Sunday that the gunmen involved in the first incident had been arrested.
“After initial investigations and reviewing the recordings, the individuals involved in the assault were identified, arrested and transferred to the judiciary,” the interior ministry said in a statement carried by Alekhbariah television.
“Any transgression or assault affecting citizens or public facilities will be met with strict legal measures,” it added.
Since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, the intentional community has been pressing Syria’s new rulers to respect personal freedoms, protect minorities and include all components of society in the transitional period.


UAE to teach AI in government schools from kindergarten up

Updated 05 May 2025
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UAE to teach AI in government schools from kindergarten up

DUBAI: UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced on Sunday that artificial intelligence lessons would be introduced for public-school children of all ages starting the next academic year.

In a tweet on X, Sheikh Mohammed wrote that the UAE cabinet had approved “the final curriculum to introduce ‘Artificial Intelligence’ as a subject across all stages of government education in the UAE, from kindergarten to grade 12, starting from the next academic year.

“Our goal is to teach our children a deep understanding of AI from a technical perspective, while also fostering their awareness of the ethics of this new technology,” he continued.

“Our responsibility is to equip our children for a time unlike ours, with conditions different from ours.” 

The step aims to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills to understand AI concepts appropriate for each academic level. 

UAE Minister of Education Sarah Al-Amiri said this integration of AI into classrooms reflects the “UAE government’s future-focused vision,” according to a statement on WAM News Agency.

The UAE will be among the first countries to introduce AI in school curricula, the statement added.

The AI curriculum will cover seven key areas, including foundational concepts, data and algorithms, software use, ethical awareness, real-world applications, innovation and project design, and policies and community engagement. 


Mother and son killed in flash floods in southern Jordan

Updated 05 May 2025
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Mother and son killed in flash floods in southern Jordan

  • The Belgian pair went missing as heavy rain caused flash floods across the country

JORDAN: The bodies were evacuated from the area, and an official investigation into the incident has been launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

A major search and rescue operation had been launched in Jordan after flash floods ripped through vast parts of the country at the weekend.

Hundreds of tourists were evacuated on Sunday as the floodwaters continued to rise.

The Petra Development of Tourism and Region Authority said heavy rain triggered flash floods in the city on Sunday.

A Public Security Directorate spokesman said specialized teams of personnel from Civil Defense, local police directorates, and the Gendarmerie Forces, conducted extensive search operations under what they described as “challenging weather conditions and difficult terrain”.

“Their efforts extended over many hours before the two victims were found deceased”, the report added.

Yazan Mahadin, commissioner of Petra Archaeology Park and Tourism at PDTRA said most of 1,785 tourists that visited on Sunday had been evacuated.

A further 14 who were trapped by floodwaters in the Western Ma’an Police Directorate were rescued uninjured.

Meanwhile a separate team was sent to Tafileh to search for a teenager who went missing while herding sheep in the Hasa area. 

The areas evacuated by the civil defense were Al-Khazneh, the Siq, the Roman Soldier’s Tomb, the Monastery, and the slopes of Prophet Harun.

Ticket sales to all major tourist attractions were suspended as a safety precaution, and the PDTRA is encouraging people to avoid flood paths and low-lying areas.