This summer, brutally hot temperatures, deepening water scarcity, and spiking fertilizer costs have put North Africa’s agricultural sector under intense pressure. Host Alistair Taylor is joined by Mohammed Mahmoud, CEO and founder of the Climate and Water Initiative and lead for Middle East Climate and Water Policy at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health, to unpack the region’s food and water security challenges. Drawing on Mahmoud’s new report card on agricultural sustainability in North Africa, they explore the diverging picture across the region, why some countries have weathered the strain better than others, and what it will take to build a more resilient and secure food system.
Outlook for Sustainable Agriculture in North Africa: Report Card Assessment
This report assesses the future sustainability of agriculture across North Africa using a multidimensional approach that considers the dynamics of water, climate, land, and economics. To enable this assessment of sustainable agriculture across the region, the author evaluates water resources reliability, water use efficiency, agricultural land sustainability, and the food sector economy for Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, and provides recommendations for action.
When the Strait of Hormuz closed in March, fertilizer prices spiked within weeks, triggering a food security crisis across North Africa and the Sahel. Host Alistair Taylor is joined by MEI Senior Fellow Intissar Fakir to explore what it means for the region, unpack the link between food security and regional stability, and assess how the strait’s reopening could impact those affected.
Many participants and leaders of the January 25 revolution hoped for a new Egypt to emerge, one that respected freedom of speech and freedom of religion, amongst other liberties. More than two years later, it has become glaringly obvious that such hopes were pipe dreams, and that the “New Egypt” will respect neither, in part thanks to the mounting number of blasphemy cases and trials that have taken place.
Egypt is in trouble. And Egypt’s trouble is bad news both for Egypt and for the United States. With a withering economy, continued political unrest, and poor institutionalization of new and ever-evolving political rules, many Egyptians have lost hope in the ultimate success of the country’s political transformation. Given the sacrifices and optimism associated with the removal of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the failure of governance in Egypt, though not entirely unexpected, has the makings of tragedy.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
