Research & Commentary Results

As the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) kicks off in Glasgow, climate change is front and center on the global agenda. Few regions of the world have more at stake than the Middle East and North Africa, given the current environmental and sustainability challenges and potential future scenarios. Experts from across MEI weigh in with their thoughts on what should be the key outcomes from COP26.

Next week, tens of thousands of world leaders, negotiators, scientists, business executives, activists, and observers from all over will gather in Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12. Also known as the Conference of the Parties (COP), this distinguished body meets annually to make decisions regarding the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which aims to “prevent anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

Turkey, like many countries worldwide, has recently faced severe environmental events. Suffering from floods and the worst wildfires in its history in the summer of 2021, the country finally took an important step to tackle climate change, ratifying the Paris Agreement international treaty on climate change on Oct. 6, 2021.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their Sixth Assessment Report on the Physical Science Basis of Climate Change in August of this year. This report brings together the latest advances in climate science, observations, paleoclimatology, and climate simulations to provide the most up-to-date physical science understanding of climate change. The report also describes the anthropogenic influence on the current state of climate and how future climate can distinctly affect different regions across the world.

Facebook’s latest failures reveal how social media companies fail their most vulnerable users — something Palestinians have been saying for years

Globally, the demand for manual, physical, and basic cognitive skills is declining. In their stead, digital literacy and competency are becoming requisites for a growing portion of the workforce, and the need for higher-level cognitive skills is on the rise: According to a World Economic Forum survey of employers, skills related to analytical and critical thinking, active learning, complex problem solving, and creativity will see the highest growth by 2025.

Ten years ago, could you ever imagine that one day you could trade fractions of stocks and virtual currencies while sitting at a bus stop, all from your cellphone? Have you ever wondered what the future of finance will look like five years from today? Imagine going to the grocery store for a seamless shopping experience: You walk in, grab a carton of milk, and walk right out while cameras recognize the items in your basket and your face to enable a secured payment. The financial world has made tremendous advances in the last 10 years due to the arrival of FinTech, and the sector is only getting bigger.

The world will remember 2020 as the year that witnessed an unprecedented acceleration in digital transformation instigated by the disruption of COVID-19. The pandemic affected millions of lives and livelihoods in the developed world and emerging economies, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, it also presented ample opportunities for economies to reimagine how the future will look while adapting to emerging innovative technologies and their economic implications.

Maktoob’s exit, which took place more than a decade ago, sparked a “Cambrian moment” of entrepreneurship and innovation that has continued to create value for people across the region today. Ex-unicorn employees are also defining the startup ecosystem in MENA. The question for us in the region is: how can we make sure we move beyond a “mafia,” which lends itself to exclusivity, to something that is truly inclusive?

“The best thing in war is its end.” The sad fact in the Middle East is that this end has not yet come — and there is no clear end on the horizon.

The internet is reshaping the way we learn. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the idea of online learning was already in the air and taking hold fast. The last decade has seen the rise of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), the creation of online marketplaces for education, and new alternatives to college like coding bootcamps. But the pandemic rocked the foundations of the learning industry and the next 10 years promise to deliver a revolution in education.

The pandemic has shaken up economic systems and brought forth unprecedented challenges, as we are all aware. However, I also believe that the “new reality” we are confronted with today is actually one that presents us with an opportunity: to prepare for a future we can own by connecting the dots between critical sectors.

Several countries in the Middle East had devised preparedness plans in response to recent respiratory epidemics, and COVID-19 has tested them. For example, Egypt’s plan was greatly modified in response to the H1N1 epidemic, first recognized in 2009, and Saudi Arabia’s in response to the MERS coronavirus, first recognized in 2012.

The Arab region’s diverse collection of 22 countries has one thing in common: Women continue to experience a backlash against their own long-overdue rights and fundamental freedoms. A combination of patriarchal structures, prolonged insecurities, and protracted crises means that this region ranks the lowest in the world in terms of women’s rights, with a gender gap that needs 153 years to close. No Arab country is even among the top 100 on this list.