WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security

WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security
The discussion also highlighted the impact of land degradation, droughts, and extreme weather events on human and national security. (WEF)
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Updated 22 January 2025
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WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security

WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security

DUBAI: “Safeguarding Nature, Securing People” was the title of a panel gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday which discussed the connected issues of environmental degradation and security.

The discussion also highlighted the impact of land degradation, droughts, and extreme weather events on human and national security.

Ibrahim Thiaw, undersecretary-general of the UN and executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, moderated the session and opened by saying that in many countries, security concerns were focused on “national security, armed forces and intelligence services, but we know that the environment is also affecting us deeply.”

Ilwad Elman, chief operating officer of the Elman Peace Centre, said that only recently had we “begun to draw the strong correlation and the intersection of the two crises of human security and (that) caused by environmental stressors and environmental aggregation” and added: “In Somalia, “we find ourselves right at the nexus of that.”

She added that food and water insecurity posed not only environmental challenges but also had a “direct linkage to the desperation that yields young people particularly to be motivated to join armed groups” — not because they agreed with the ideology, but “to be able to survive.”

Elman explained the Elman Peace Centre works on “sustainable peace building” and “the rehabilitation and reintegration of young people.”

It focuses on climate resilience even though that is not its main mandate because “the environments we’re sending people back to are changing so rapidly our peace building interventions were not sustainable,” she said.

Such crises are not only limited to developing countries. Ukraine, which supplies food to 400 million people globally, was unable to do so due to the war, according to the country’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitalii Koval.

Some 60 percent of Ukraine’s income comes from agrarian food exports, which has been drastically impacted. This, combined with the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, has had disastrous consequences for the country, he said.

Koval added: “It is very important that the world community should elaborate new mechanisms to respond, and these mechanisms need to be immediate — not tomorrow, not sometime in the future, (but) today.”

Conflicts undoubtedly exacerbate environmental stressors, but the opposite is also true.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said: “Land degradation leads to conflicts, leads to violence, leads to extremism, leads to terrorism, leads to migration, leads to political instability, and leads to all of us paying an extremely high price to deal with the consequences of an issue that, had we paid attention to at the outset, would have cost us a fraction of the resources.”

The link between environmental degradation and security was “very clear, but we have not been paying sufficient attention to it,” he added.

Both Al-Jubeir and Elman said environmental and land degradation were not issues limited to desert or developing countries.

They pointed out the wildfires in California and the impact of such issues on declining water levels on Germany’s Rhine river and the Panama Canal. Drought has meant lower water levels, which means fewer ships can pass through, resulting in delays and increased shipping costs.

Elman also highlighted how the “discourse of climate change has only recently shifted from a very Global North perspective, overlooking the lived realities, the indigenous best practices and solutions from communities on the ground. Resources are distributed in a way that is, I would say, still very imperialistic.”

For example, Elman addressed a meeting of the UN Security Council on the effects of climate change on international peace and security in 2021. The resolution, put forth by Ireland and Niger, was vetoed despite 111 member states being in favor of it.

And so, she said, there was a need for “spaces that are able to move the agenda forward and recognize it as a security threat of global impact, and if the Security Council is not the place for that, other avenues need to be explored.”

Al-Jubeir responded: “If it’s not efficient enough, you do it unilaterally.”

Multilateralism was great for talks, he added, but “if those talks do not lead to concrete results, there should be nothing in the way of preventing countries who have the means to engage with other countries directly and put in place mechanisms that actually work.”

As an example, he said Saudi Arabia launched the Middle East Green Initiative that brought together over 22 countries in the region to help them adopt a circular carbon economy, along with other funding and knowledge-sharing programs that ensured a comprehensive approach. 


Construction equipment awaiting Gaza entry from Egypt: report

Bulldozers and trucks carrying caravans wait to enter Gaza at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Bulldozers and trucks carrying caravans wait to enter Gaza at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Updated 53 min 17 sec ago
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Construction equipment awaiting Gaza entry from Egypt: report

Bulldozers and trucks carrying caravans wait to enter Gaza at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
  • Israeli government spokesman said heavy machinery would not be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt

RAFAH: Dozens of bulldozers, construction vehicles and trucks carrying mobile homes lined up on Egypt’s side of the Rafah border crossing on Thursday, awaiting to enter Gaza, state-linked Egyptian media reported.
Al-Qahera News, with close ties to Egyptian intelligence services, said the equipment was positioned at the crossing in preparation for entry into the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
An AFP photographer also confirmed seeing the vehicles, including trucks carrying caravans, waiting at the border.
However, an Israeli government spokesman said heavy machinery would not be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
“There is no entry of caravans (mobile homes) or heavy equipment into the Gaza Strip, and there is no coordination for this,” Omer Dostri, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote on X.
“According to the agreement, no goods are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” he added.
Under an ongoing truce agreement, Rafah has been opened for evacuation of the wounded and sick. Other aid is also allowed to enter the territory via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
“We stand behind them (Palestinians) and hopefully better days are ahead,” Ahmed Abdel Dayem, a driver at the border, told AFP.
The situation unfolds amid growing tensions over a US President Donald Trump plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, a move that has faced staunch opposition from both countries.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called such displacement an “injustice” that Egypt “cannot take part in,” while Jordan’s King Abdullah said his country remains “steadfast” in its position against forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Egypt is set to host a summit of Arab nations later this month and announced this week that it would present a “comprehensive vision” for Gaza’s reconstruction in a way that ensures Palestinians remain on their land.
Egypt and Jordan, both key US allies, are heavily reliant on foreign aid and the US is considered one of their top donors.


International debt is creating instability, global investor says

International debt is creating instability, global investor says
Updated 13 February 2025
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International debt is creating instability, global investor says

International debt is creating instability, global investor says

DUBAI: The debt problem is not one that only the US is facing — it is a world debt problem that China, Europe and many countries are confronting, according to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates.

During a session conducted by TV host, Tucker Carlson, at the World Governments Summit on Wednesday, Dalio said: “If you have that debt problem, you exacerbate the great conflict that’s going to happen. You create political instability. It’s a geopolitical problem.

“Climate is costly, roughly $8 trillion a year on climate, so it’s a financial thing, and now the question is this new technology and how are we going to handle that and how do we make the most to raise productivity or what is it used for. Is it used for conflict?” 

Carlson said: “You have run one of the biggest hedge funds in the world for a long time, and in order to do that you have had to think about the rest of the world in a systematic way … in doing that, you have developed this framework for understanding what’s happening now and what’s going to happen.”

Carlson then asked Dalio to discuss the five trends that he had looked at to consider what was going to happen next.

As a global macro investor for 50 years, the Bridgewater Associates’ founder said that he discovered that he needed to study history. By doing so, he observed five major forces that operate in a big cycle.

The first is that “we have a big debt issue globally, that is very important… that is a force, a financial force.” 

The second, he said, is the internal order and disorder force that goes in a cycle in which there “is greater and greater gaps and conflicts between the left and the right and populism that forces a great conflict like a civil war.

“I believe we are in a form of a civil war now, that’s going on within countries,” he said.

The third force is the great world power conflict that occurs “when a great power runs the world order and then there is a rising power that challenges that, you have a great power conflict: US-China.”

The fourth force is that throughout history, acts of nature — “droughts, floods and pandemics — have killed more people than wars and have toppled world orders more than anything else.”

The fifth big force is “man’s inventiveness, particularly of technology.”

Dalio said: “Everything that we talk about, everything that we are looking at, falls under one of those and they move in a largely cyclical way and that is the framework that we are now living out.”

Giving his sense of the scale of global debt, Dalio said that “it’s now unprecedented in all of history” and went on to explain how it worked, saying “there is a supply-demand situation.

“The way the debt cycle works is, think of credit, and our credit system as being like a circulatory system, that credit brings buying power, brings nutrients to all the system … but that credit that we buy things with, that we buy financial assets, goods and services with, creates debt.

“That debt accumulates like plaque in a system that begins to have a problem because it starts to squeeze out spending, for example the US budget, about a trillion dollars a year now goes to pay interest rates. Over the next year we are going to have over $9 trillion debt that we have to pay back and roll forward hopefully.”

So there is a supply demand issue with this debt, “one man’s debts are another man’s assets.” Dalio added: “if those assets don’t provide an adequate return, or they feel there is risk in those assets, there is not enough demand for that debt, there is a problem … that problem is that interest rates then start to rise, and those holders of the debt begin to realize there is a debt problem, and worse, on the supply and demand, that they have to sell debt.”

Dalio said that the US would run a deficit of about 7.5 percent of GDP “if the Trump tax cuts are continued,” which he expected.

“That deficit needs to be cut to 3 percent of GDP… all policymakers and the president should have a pledge to get it to 3 percent of GDP, because otherwise we are likely to have a problem,” he said.


Govts must build ‘proper guardrails’ against AI threats, report warns

Govts must build ‘proper guardrails’ against AI threats, report warns
Updated 13 February 2025
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Govts must build ‘proper guardrails’ against AI threats, report warns

Govts must build ‘proper guardrails’ against AI threats, report warns

DUBAI: Artificial intelligence can redefine societies but needs “proper guardrails” to be used for the common good, the head of a top management firm’s AI division has said.

Jad Haddad, partner and global head of Quotient, AI by Oliver Wyman, was speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday.

His firm and the summit co-launched a report, “AI: A Roadmap for Governments,” highlighting the urgent need for governments to develop strategies for the responsible deployment of AI.

“This report highlights the urgent need for governments to act decisively in creating frameworks that not only foster innovation, but also address the ethical and societal risks associated with AI, ensuring it serves the common good,” Haddad said.

Amid rapid evolution in AI, the report underscores both the transformative potential and significant risks the technology poses to society.

With more than one-third of the world’s countries already publishing national AI strategies, the report highlights AI as a strategic technology poised to redefine industries, governance and global competitiveness.

WGS’ managing director, Mohamed Al-Sharhan, said: “The future of AI demands a unified global response.”

The report is a crucial blueprint for policymakers that guides them through the complexities of the technology, Al-Sharhan said.

It also highlights the importance of aligning academic institutions, launching talent programs and establishing public-private collaborations to effectively navigate the complexities of AI adoption worldwide.

The report calls for building robust regulatory frameworks to protect citizens and ensure equitable access to AI technologies.

“Without proper guardrails, AI could become the biggest threat to privacy and democracy that we have ever faced,” Haddad said.


Western allies and Arab countries gather in Paris to discuss Syria’s future amid US aid freeze

Western allies and Arab countries gather in Paris to discuss Syria’s future amid US aid freeze
Updated 13 February 2025
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Western allies and Arab countries gather in Paris to discuss Syria’s future amid US aid freeze

Western allies and Arab countries gather in Paris to discuss Syria’s future amid US aid freeze
  • Trump’s controversial decision to freeze foreign assistance has raised concerns in Syria, a country that had depended on hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the US and now left in ruins by a civil war

PARIS: Western allies and Arab countries are gathering in Paris on Thursday for an international conference on Syria to discuss the country’s future after the fall of former Syrian president Bashar Assad and amid uncertainty over the United States’ commitment to the region.
It’s the third conference on Syria since Assad was ousted in December, and the first since President Donald Trump’s administration took over in the US.
Trump’s controversial decision to freeze foreign assistance has raised concerns in Syria, a country that had depended on hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the US and now left in ruins by a civil war.
The Trump administration is pulling almost all USAID workers out of the field worldwide, all but ending a six-decade mission meant to shore up American security by fighting starvation, funding education and working to end epidemics.
While many Syrians were happy to see the rule of Assad come to an abrupt end in December, analysts have warned that the honeymoon period for the country’s new rulers may be short-lived if they are not able to jumpstart the country’s battered economy.
An end to the sanctions imposed during Assad’s time will be key to that, but sanctions are not the only issue.
Billions in aid needed
More aid is crucial to achieve a peaceful reconstruction during the post-Assad transition. The country needs massive investment to rebuild housing, electricity, water and transportation infrastructure after nearly 14 years of war. The United Nations in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion, while some experts now say the number could reach at least $400 billion.
With few productive sectors and government employees making wages equivalent to about $20 per month, Syria has grown increasingly dependent on remittances and humanitarian aid. But the flow of aid was throttled after the Trump administration halted US foreign assistance last month.
The effects were particularly dire in the country’s northwest, a formerly rebel-held enclave that hosts millions of people displaced from other areas by the country’s civil war. Many of them live in sprawling tent camps.
The freeze on USAID funding forced clinics serving many of those camps to shut down, and nonprofits laid off local staff. In northeastern Syria, a camp housing thousands of family members of Islamic State fighters was thrown into chaos when the group providing services there was forced to briefly stop work.
A workshop bringing together key donors from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, the United Nations and key agencies from Arab countries will be held alongside the conference to coordinate international aid to Syria.
Doubts over US support
Uncertainty also surrounds the future of US military support in the region.
In 2019 during his first term, Trump decided on a partial withdrawal of US troops form the northeast of Syria before he halted the plans. And in December last year, when rebels were on their way to topple Assad, Trump said the United States should not ” dive into the middle of a Syrian civil war.”
Now that Syria’s new leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa is trying to consolidate his power, the USintentions in the region remain unclear.
A French diplomatic official confirmed the presence of a US representative at the conference, but said “our understanding is that the new US administration is still in the review process regarding Syria, it does not seem (the US position) will be clarified at that conference.” The official spoke anonymously in line with the French presidency’s customary practices.
The commander of the main US-backed force in Syria recently said that US troops should stay in Syria because the Daesh group will benefit from a withdrawal.
Since Damascus fell on Dec. 8 and Assad fled to Moscow, the new leadership has yet to lay out a clear vision of how the country will be governed.
The Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS – a former Al-Qaeda affiliate that the EU and UN consider to be a terrorist organization – has established itself as Syria’s de facto rulers after coordinating with the southern fighters during the offensive late last year.
French organizers said the three main goals of the meeting, which is not a pledging conference, are to coordinate efforts to support a peaceful transition, organize cooperation and aid from neighbors and partners, and to continue talks on the fight against impunity.
The conference takes place at ministerial level. Syria’s interim foreign minister Asaad Al-Shibani has been invited and it will be his first visit to Europe.
Speaking this week at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Al-Shibani underlined the new government in Damascus’ desire to improve relations with the West and get sanctions on Syria lifted so the country could start rebuilding after the ruinous, 14-year war.


Turkiye’s Erdogan lashes out at Israel on a visit to Pakistan, laments tragedy of Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Updated 16 min 5 sec ago
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Turkiye’s Erdogan lashes out at Israel on a visit to Pakistan, laments tragedy of Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
  • “Gaza belongs to our Gazan brothers and sisters and will remain so forever,” Ergogan said in a televised speech at a business forum in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Israel during a visit to Pakistan on Thursday, speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and condemning ideas to forcibly displace them from their land.
Speaking at a business forum, Erdogan accused Israel of failing to keep to a ceasefire agreement, warning that the region was being dragged “toward blood and tears again.”
Erdogan reiterated his opposition to President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
“Gaza belongs to our Gazan brothers and sisters and will remain so forever,” he said in a televised speech at a business forum in the capital, Islamabad. Erdogan arrived on a two-day visit on Wednesday night.
“The homeland for which the Palestinians have sacrificed tens of thousands of their children is not up for bargaining,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Erdogan held talks on Gaza and bilateral Turkiye-Pakistani trade and cooperation with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The two leaders also jointly chaired strategic cooperation talks between their countries and witnessed the signing of 24 agreements and a memorandums of understanding on boosting economic and defense ties.
At the business forum, Sharif said the two nations would try to increase the volume of their annual bilateral trade to $5 billion, from the current $1 billion.
“Alongside Pakistan, we strive to provide every effort possible to support to the just cause of our Palestinian brothers, both within the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other platforms,” Erdogan also said.
“We must strengthen this determined stance, especially at a time when there are unlawful and morally unacceptable proposals such as tearing our Gazan brothers from their homeland,” he added.
Erdogan was earlier welcomed by people in traditional Turkish and Pakistani dress who lined a key city road decorated with Turkish and Pakistani flags. Erdogan was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Emine Erdogan.
The Turkish leader also to also meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari.