WEATHER CHANGE MAY DETERIORATE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS.

Lawmakers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly on Monday said climate change would worsen food and water shortages in the Middle East and North Africa.
They also said that the change in weather conditions might trigger more conflicts and mass migration, with serious implications for the wider world.

Osman Askin Bak, one of the lawmakers said “the long-term prospects for food and water security in the MENA region are dire.”
Bak, a member of the Turkish Parliament will present the draft report on Saturday at the Parliamentary Assembly – a gathering of senior parliamentarians from NATO’s 28 member states.
He said “climate change will worsen the region’s outlook. War, poor governance, climate change and other issues have worsened tensions over competition for scarce water and food in the Middle East and North Africa.”
The region is home to five per cent of the global population, and one per cent of the world’s renewable water supply, Bak said.
He, however, added that the tension could be eased with better management of water and food resources, including recycling waste water, improved regional cooperation on agriculture and water, and using renewable energy to power desalination plants.
Bak’s report urges NATO governments to stick to their commitments under the Paris Agreement, including pledges on climate finance to help developing countries adapt to climate change impacts and grow using clean energy.
“The potential for conflict between regions affected by climate change should not be ruled out,” said Lilja Alfreðsdóttir, Iceland’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who drafted a separate report on the costs of climate change for the assembly.
“The refugee crisis shaking political stability throughout much of the Middle East and posing serious problems in Europe could be a harbinger of things to come,” her report said.
The Parliamentary Assembly is a separate organisation to NATO but, if the lawmakers adopt the reports, they will send a signal to NATO headquarters.
“It indicates what member states’ interests are and that should be reflected in what happens at headquarters,” said Shiloh Fetzek, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Centre for Climate and Security (CCS).