Middle East

"Saudi Arabia has traditionally depended on the oil sector for 90% of its budget, but that won’t last forever."

The marsh Arabs who live at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have a culture and economy that has survived for millenia. Now climate change is drying up the water they depend on, and expecially affecting the roles of women.

"On Jan. 21, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iraq's prime minister in Davos, Switzerland, and handed him a personal note from President Barack Obama pleading for urgent action."

"The United States is monitoring Iraq's largest dam for signs of further deterioration that could point to an impending catastrophic collapse, US army officers said on Thursday."

"More than 16 months after Iraqi and Kurdish forces reclaimed Mosul Dam from Islamic State fighters, the structure faces a new threat: the danger that it may collapse because of insufficient maintenance, overwhelming major communities downstream with floodwaters."

"Kemal Ali ran a successful well-digging business for farmers in northern Syria for 30 years. He had everything he needed for the job ... Then things changed. In the winter of 2006–2007, the water table began sinking like never before."

"Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, plans to diversify its economy to help combat climate change in a move that could reduce expected carbon emissions by up to 130 million tonnes a year by 2030, the government said on Tuesday."

"Aid flights rushed food and tents to the Yemeni island of Socotra, local officials said on Wednesday, after it was hit by a rare cyclone the United Nations said has displaced 40,000 people there and on the mainland."

"A cyclone with hurricane-force winds made landfall on Yemen's Arabian Sea coast on Tuesday, flooding the country's fifth-largest city Mukalla and sending thousands of people fleeing for shelter."