Summary Banner headlines testify to the increased awareness of environmental problems in the Middle East and to the urgency of solving them. Whether the concern is with the dumping of toxic waste in Arab countries or with the need for Islamic solutions to prevent ecological disaster, Middle Eastern newspapers are raising awareness of environmental issues and of the potential ill effects they can have throughout the region. Such awareness underscores the timeliness of this book. Written by leading scholars in their own particular fields, the 18 essays in this book represent some of the deepest and most advanced thinking on the subject of the Middle Eastern environment. Bringing together subjects as diverse as the Oslo agreement, nuclear weapons in Israel, and Islamic development agendas in sub-Saharan Africa, The Middle Eastern Environment is a truly benchmark publication, rendering a highly specialized and topical area of thought available to environmentalists, geographers and economists and accessible to a broad reading public. However timely, these essays go well beyond daily reportage to form a broader and deeper view of the Middle Eastern environment and the problems before it. In fact, these essays could easily be called the real stories behind the headlines, revealing deeper causes and longer-term effects of environmental issues which the region faces and will continue to face for years to come. Readers will find essays going beyond normally accepted definitions of the environment to include such topics as water diplomacy; war damage in Kuwait, Iran and Iraq; the ill effects of urban planners on nomadic herders; and patchwork and ineffective bureaucracies. Reviews "...diverse in scope to reflect the wide range of influences that impact on the Middle Eastern environment." Geographical Abstracts: Human Geography "The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and the editor of this collection of papers have produced a very useful suite of studies which throws light on the region's environment... The chapters will be useful for readers needing information on particular countries and on how the respective political economies perceive and manage their environmental endowments..." Geography "Eric Watkins übernahm die Aufgabe, achtzehn der um das Thema ‘Middle Eastern Environment’ kreisenden Konferenzbeiträge der BRISMES-Jahrestagung (12.-15.7.1995, Durham) editorisch aufzubereiten und damit diesen höchst aktuellen und konfliktgeladenen Bereich einem größeren Interessentenkreis näherzubringen. Allerdings darf keine ausschließliche Beschränkung auf rein ökologische Aspekte erwartet werden, sondern ist - wie der Herausgeber selbst schreibt - von einem weiter gefaßten Umweltbegriff auszugehen..." Wuqûf "The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) was founded in 1973 to promote the study of the Middle East in the United Kingdom. It admits as Fellows only people whose work involves the professional study of the Middle East. From the first, however, BRISMES accepted as (non-voting) Members any persons with a general interest in the region, and over the years it has admirably filled the role of an intellectual meeting place between academics, journalists, diplomats and others... The volume under review... is a great improvement in its physical appearance over the comparable proceedings of earlier conferences in that the St Malo Press has had it elegantly printed... Eric Watkins offers the conclusion that more cooperation will be needed between the West and the Middle East if they are to make their shared environment worthy of human life now and in the generations to come." Asian Affairs "...the book is a useful presentation of some current research in Middle Eastern studies... There are gems... such as Clive Agnew's summary of the geography of environmental management and the regional chapters on Morocco, Tunisia and Iran, making it a worthwhile read for the geographer." The Geographical Journal "Es ist erfreulich, daß die Sammlung so schnell nach der Tagung erscheinen konnte... der Titel ist enger als der Gehalt des Buches. Es ist daher zu befürchten, daß mancher Beitrag dieser anregenden Sammlung relativ unbeachtet bleibt." Die Welt des Islams, Band 39, 1, 1999 "Useful material for those wanting a regional overview." Middle East and African Water Review "As media headlines report more and more on the environment, the selection of essays presented reveal deeper causes and long term consequences of environmental mismanagement... Several essays underline the need for more cooperation if the West and the Middle East are to create an environment worthy of human life for future generations... a useful collection of studies and diverse analyses, throwing light on a wide range of problems and future perspectives of the Middle Eastern environment." Middle East Environment Watch "Although not all of the chapters address land degradation issues, there is still much in this book of value to those interested in the change and degradation of the Middle Eastern environment." Land Degradation and Development Contents Foreword Eric Watkins University of Durham 1 Measuring living standards in the Middle East Rodney Wilson University of Durham 2 Environmental change and environmental problems in the Middle East Clive Agnew University College London 3 Water diplomacy in the Middle East Mostafa Dolatyar University of Newcastle 4 Contemporary Islamic influences in sub-Saharan Africa: an alternative development agenda Heather Deegan Middlesex University 5 Environmental policy in Morocco: institutional problems and the role of non-governmental organisations Eva Weidnitzer German Development Institute, Berlin 6 The dilemma between environmental protection and economic development: Tunisia as a case study Béchir Chourou University of Tunis I 7 Water resource planning in Egypt Martin Hvidt Odense University 8 Urban development and the environment in Saudi Arabia B. P. Birch University of Southampton 9 On the geography of development in Turkey Brian W. Beeley The Open University 10 Third party involvement in Jerusalem's future: an international law perspective Agneta Johansson Uppsala University 11 Norwegian foreign policy towards the Middle East Nils A. Butenschøn University of Oslo 12 Israel’s nuclear imperative: strategic self-restraint Meir Stieglitz Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, Washington 13 Chemical and biological weapons in Iraq: security and environmental implications Andrew Rathmell King’s College, London 14 The political economy of Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations Gerd Nonneman Lancaster University 15 The impact of the gulf war on the desert ecosystem in Kuwait Dhari al-Ajmi and Raafat Misak Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research 16 Gender, citizenship, and nationalism in Kuwait Mary Ann Tétreault Iowa State University and Haya al-Mughni Public Authority for the Assessment of Compensation, Kuwait 17 The political economy of Iraq’s agriculture Kamil Mahdi University of Exeter 18 Post-war reconstruction in south-west Iran: new settlements or new identities Ali Madanipour University of Newcastle Notes and sources Index top Enquiries Contact the publisher for further information: e-mail: book enquiries, letter: John Adamson, 90 Hertford Street, Cambridge CB4 3AQ, England top How to order the book offline Please print off the order form and send it by mail to John Adamson, 90 Hertford Street, Cambridge CB4 3AQ, England. top