Strategic foresight is helping create Arab futures
On March 5-7, 2024, the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) hosted the annual Arab Forum for Sustainable Development (AFSD). The inclusion of a special session on “Collaborative Futures: Strategic Foresight for Sustainable Development in a World of Crisis” is another example of the growing attention to foresight-driven analysis and decision-making among leaders in the Arab world.
The Second War for Palestine has continued longer than any Israel-Palestinian conflict since Israel’s establishment. Neither Gamal Abdel Nasser’s army nor Hafez al-Assad’s tanks fought as long as the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades still battling in Gaza.
The great financing gap: The state of climate funding in MENA
The Middle East and North Africa region is one of the lowest recipients of climate finance compared to other areas of the globe, such as East Asia and the Pacific Islands, despite MENA’s exposure to extreme climate risks. The MENA region’s share of climate financing from the big three global climate funds — the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) — and their sub-funds made up only 6.6% of their cumulative global financing through 2023.
Over the past two decades, relations between Israel and China expanded significantly. Since then, however, there have been indications that the growth prospects for the bilateral relationship have diminished. China’s stance on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and on Israel’s conduct during the ensuing war in Gaza, in particular, has further cast doubt on the future trajectory of the relationship.
A better development funding model for Lebanon: Prospects, challenges, and applicable lessons
International funders have often called upon recipients to carry out reforms before any funding can be made available or the amount increased. But in many crisis-wracked countries, such as Lebanon, the prospect of reforms may be too distant, with intervention needed immediately. This is why greater emphasis must be placed on risk mitigation measures over which funders can exercise control.
The devastating impact of Gaza’s acute and prolonged water crisis
The Gaza Strip faces a severe and worsening water crisis. With the death toll now above 31,000 and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis plaguing the strip, one of the most urgent challenges facing its residents is access to water.
Rebuilding Gaza: Navigating the politics of infrastructure
The scale of rebuilding needed after the Gaza war, in addition to the difficult political questions involved, will require close international coordination as well as innovative, future-informed thinking.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been at the center of international attention. This is in stark contrast to the situation in recent years, when the issue has been sidelined in the international discourse and the question of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has almost disappeared from the diplomatic agenda.
Biden's Gaza aid port plan: How did we get here and where might it lead?
Since Oct. 7, humanitarian aid has been entering the Gaza Strip via land and air. Following US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7, aid is also likely to enter via the sea, under an emergency US mission to establish a temporary pier on the Gaza coast that can receive large shipments of food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters.
“Exporting its internal problems”: Understanding Iran’s January missile salvos against its neighbors
In mid-January, with the war in Gaza continuing to rage on, Iran launched a series of surprise missile attacks on its immediate neighbors Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan over two days. Taken together, these attacks illustrate that the Islamic Republic puts regime survival above national interest in its foreign policy calculations, which undermines its efforts to engender solidarity and good relations with other Muslim-majority states in the region.
