Middle East North Africa Science Platform

Middle East North Africa Science Platform

Advancing science communication and networking

MENA Science

ICARDA https://www.icarda.org/

Seed banks: the last line of defense against a threatening global food crisis
'Guardian'
As climate breakdown and worldwide conflict continue to place the food system at risk, seed banks from the Arctic to Lebanon try to safeguard biodiversity.

'The seed bank that escaped Syria’s war' ICARDA, Beirut, Lebanon
Originally headquartered in Aleppo, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) gene bank became a casualty of the Syrian war and was forced to close in 2012. It is the only institution to ever make a withdrawal from Svalbard which it used to rebuild its collection, now split between Lebanon and Morocco. “For us it was invaluable,” said Hassan Machlab, country manager for Lebanon, Jordan & Palestine at ICARDA. “You cannot put a price on this collection.”

The Regional Impacts of Climate Change
Report focused on 21 countries of the predominantly arid and semi-arid region of the Middle East and central Asia. The region covers approximately 9% of the world's land area. It is dominated by arid (50%) and semi-arid (11%) lands.

The region is vulnerable to climate change because it is dry and water availability is thus limited. In some countries, the ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change will be reduced by a lack of infrastructure.

IPCC AR6 finds unequivocal evidence

'Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the first part of its sixth report AR6. On the current status of the climate-The Physical Science Basis :
'A.1 It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.
A.2 The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.
A.3 Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since AR5.
A.4 Improved knowledge of climate processes, paleoclimate evidence and the response of the climate system to increasing radiative forcing gives a best estimate of equilibrium climate sensitivity of 3°C with a narrower range compared to AR5.'

IPCC

Genomic history of the Middle East

Almarri et al., 2021, Cell , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.013
'High-coverage resource of physically phased genomes from eight Middle Eastern populations provides insights into a genetically understudied region.
-Middle Easterners do not have ancestry from an early out-of Africa expansion. -Basal Eurasian and African ancestry in Arabians deplete their Neanderthal ancestry. -Populations experienced bottlenecks overlapping aridification events
-Identification of recent single and polygenic signals of selection in Arabia.

It enhances our understanding of regional ancestry, the spread of languages, the effects of climate change on populations, and the evolutionary history of genetic variants.'

c Cell

Climate Emergency

The MENA climate is characterised by arid and semi-arid zones and humans have used multiple adaption strategies to build civilisations and communities. Climate change is forcing major rethink of science, technology, innovation and sustainable development approaches to manage change and prepare for the future.

Dubai solar park - Google Earth

Latest research : 'results corroborate previous studies projecting the MENA region to host global hot spots for drought in the late twenty-first century.
The potential impacts of projected changes in human and natural ecosystems need to be assessed in a rigorous way to inform risk reduction decisions.'
Driouech, F., ElRhaz, K., Moufouma-Okia, W. et al. Assessing Future Changes of Climate Extreme Events in the CORDEX-MENA Region Using Regional Climate Model ALADIN-Climate. Earth Syst Environ 4, 477–492 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-020-00169-3

Historical climatology of the Middle East

The potential of written sources for a historical climatology of the Middle East during the Mamluk era. Undine Ott-' 'PAGES'

'The Mamluk era (1250–1517 CE) was a period with phases of climate instability in the eastern Mediterranean. A trove of written sources has survived from this period but still awaits evaluation for climate history reconstruction in the
Middle East.'

We need a similar initiative for the MENA

1bn trees in Africa’s ‘Great Green Wall’.
'An ambitious, African-led movement to plant a 5,000-mile forest wall to fight the climate crisis .. 'The Independent' shares exclusively.

At the United Nation’s One Planet Summit in Paris earlier this month, French president Emmanuel Macron announced a $14bn investment for Africa’s “Great Green Wall” (GGW) over the next four years. The goal is to harness the power of nature to re-green the semi-arid Sahel region and halt the increasing spread of desert.

Nonprofit Ecosia, a search engine which ploughs ad revenues into global tree-planting, is now offering to plant 1 billion trees in the region to extend the wall, along with deploying its tech know-how to map and monitor the health of the forest with satellite imagery and geo-tagging..'

Towards targeted therapies for amyloid diseases

'Nature Middle East'
Study reveals a promising route for inhibiting the aggregation of harmful proteins associated with Alzheimer’s and other amyloid diseases.

Dramatic species loss

'Middle East Eye'
From decimated fish and wildlife stocks in the Red Sea to declining water resources in Iraq, myriad environmental issues plague the region.

Delegates at the UN conference in Egypt will not have to look far for evidence of ongoing biodiversity loss. The corals of the northern Red Sea around Sharm el-Sheikh and the Gulf of Aqaba are among the richest natural habitats on earth, home to more than 1,000 species of fish and 250 different types of coral.

Red Sea corals have shown remarkable resilience in the face of rising temperatures and climate change. But haphazard tourist development, the dumping of waste in the sea, overfishing, and the use of explosives by fishers have all done serious damage to this rich area of biodiversity.

Spread of agriculture

'Agro biodiver'
Luigi Guarino created an interesting image: merging a recent updated map of the expansion of agriculture in Europe with the localities of genebank accessions using barley landrace data from Genesys and importing it into Google Earth.
There are ongoing efforts at ICARDA to maintain and identify new cereal landraces in the MENA region. This underpins global scientific efforts to identify new crop cultivars better suited for agriculture and adaptation to changing climate.

Iranian landrace durum wheat

'Frontiers'
Genomic Regions From an Iranian Landrace Increase kernel size in Durum wheat. The availability of the latest genome sequences in wheat plus genetic analysis was used to investigate durum wheat kernel morphology factors and their relationships with kernel weight, and to map the corresponding QTLs. Kernel size and shape are important parameters determining the wheat profitability, being main determinants of yield and its technological quality.

WATER-WISE Smart Irrigation Strategies

'The Malabo Montpellier Panel '
'The report reviews traditional and new, innovative small-scale and large-scale irrigation approaches and technologies that have been implemented in Africa, followed by an analysis of the experiences of six African countries - Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Niger and South Africa that have been particularly innovative and successful in terms of their institutional and policy design for irrigation.'. - download and check out their infographic-

The grass was definitely greener for hominins in Arabia

'nature middle east'
Homo species dispersed into the green grasslands of the Arabian Peninsula between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago. Analyses of fossilised animal bones and newly discovered stone tools from Ti’s al Ghadah in northern Saudi Arabia suggest that hominins dispersed into the region 100,000 years earlier than previously thought. At the time, the Peninsula was covered in savannah-like grasslands and experienced a wetter climate than today.'

Cyprus as regional hub for climate-change research

'nature'
'Proposed science institute will focus on the Mediterranean and Middle East, regions that will be hard hit by global warming. Few monitoring systems exist in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East to systematically measure variables such as temperature, humidity and desertification. '

Heat-resistant corals in the MENA

'cnn'
'Globally, coral reefs are in serious danger of being wiped out by rising sea temperatures as a consequence of climate change. But in one region, in the Gulf of Aqaba, the corals are showing pockets of resistance in withstanding the heat.
Consequently, this area has become a hotbed for research as marine biologists from many countries are studying the factors that give these corals their ability to survive warming seas and whether genetic technology could help to save dying coral reefs. '

Fog harp makes water from air

'Fog nets have been used for many decades in many parts of the world including Africa and the Middle East. The largest fog collection project in the world is in Morocco, where over 600 square meters of nets provide drinking water to hundreds in a region severely hit by droughts induced by climate change. With water crises looming in many parts of the world, devising innovative and sustainable ways to gain access to clean water is essential.

Now, researchers at Virginia Tech University have developed a new design that they say has three times the efficiency of regular fog nets. They call it a "harp," because its vertical pattern of wires makes it resemble the string instrument.'

A schematic of the fog harp design. Credit: Virgina Tech

Earliest known human fossils found in Morocco

The 300,000-year-old skull segments carry insights into the origins of our species and connect Morocco with complex evolutionary changes taking place across Africa.

Extreme weather blamed on humans for the first time

'Nature editorial: '
'Scientists clearly state that extreme weather phenomena wouldn’t have happened without global warming. The solution has been clear for more than two decades: governments need to take aggressive action to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.
This has implications for the MENA region.'

Sinai wild bees under threat

'nature'
Scientists warn against the negative impact of honeybees’ introduction on wild bees and native plants in South Sinai.

Assessment of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia

The epidemic level of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection was examined in Saudi Arabia by the Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered model over two years. The results would be helpful for evaluation of future progression of the infections, better understanding and control interventions.

Could ancient Babylonian astronomers have predicted the latest solar eclipse?

Babylonian clay tablets record the earliest total solar eclipse seen in Ugarit on May 3, 1375 BC. Babylonian astrologers kept careful records about celestial happenings including the motions of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, and the Moon on tablets dating from 1700 to 1681 BC and identified a total solar eclipse on July 31, 1063 BC, that "turned day into night," and the famous eclipse of June 15, 763 BC, recorded by Assyrian observers in Nineveh.

'Some scholars suggest that the ancient Babylonian stargazers could (and did) predict solar eclipses that weren't even visible from Babylon. Their knowledge would continue on with the peoples around them and following them, including the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Middle Eastern astronomers. '

Managing oak forests in Tunisia to safeguard birds

A major conservation concern prompts strategic tree management to enhance forests as an opportunity to conserve bird species.

The endangered Arabian Leopard

The Arabian leopard Panthera pardus nimr is a vulnerable and endangered subspecies that inhabits the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula. In Oman steps are taken to protect it in the mountains of Dhofar.

Genetic research to mitigate climate change

The MENA region is facing extreme weather events. Plant genetic research underpins crop production and safeguards against the impacts of alterations in weather due to climate change.

MENA Sustainability

Palestine’s Research Capacity Is Limited by Multiple Challenges, Scholars Say
'Al-Fanar'
'Higher-education institutions in the Palestinian territories face multiple challenges in their efforts to advance Palestine’s research capacity, scholars say. While some academics attribute this failure to restrictions imposed by Israel, others point to additional reasons.

The task is “very difficult and complex,” Yousef Najajreh, a researcher who studies anti-cancer drugs, said during a recent webinar organised by Scientists for Palestine, an organisation that aims to promote the integration of the Palestinian Territories into the international scientific community. Najajreh, who is a former dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Al-Quds University, added: “We are faced with all sorts of problems, starting from the lack of a culture of teamwork, the lack of financial resources, a shortage of infrastructure, transportation, and difficulties in sending samples abroad. As you know, we are a semi-state and not an independent one.'

Rare Arabian leopard

Birth of an Arabian leopard cub in Saudi Arabia hailed as important step in efforts to save species.
The cub is the latest of 16 born in 2021 at the Arabian Leopard Breeding Center in the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Taif.
The Arabian leopard is classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and numbers in the wild have declined to fewer than 200 because of poaching and loss of habitat. However, that figure is uncertain as data is hard to come by for this elusive creature, more often viewed through a camera trap. Expert from Oman -Hadi Al Hikmani, Office for Conservation of the Environment, 100 Muscat, Oman

Women in STEM face challenges

'Nature Middle East'
'UK-based Egyptian computer science lecturer Mai Elshehaly considers the need for a more inclusive narrative that recognizes the diversity of women in STEM.'
'Mai Elshehaly is a lecturer in computer science at the University of Bradford, UK. Recently, two young women from very different backgrounds and stages in their education asked me if a successful academic career in computer science was possible for ‘someone like them’. Their questions made me think about what was behind the lack of confidence in their ability to excel.'

Saving Endangered Hyenas in Palestine

In February, 2020, a Striped Hyena was released after ten months of nursing care by staff and volunteers at the Palestine Museum of Natural History; a huge victory in a small world.

Research conducted over time in occupied Palestine placed awareness of the Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena syriaca) as being among animals threatened globally according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/ 10274/45195080) as well as being endangered locally. It is widely distributed across Asia, Africa and the Middle East indicating transitional stages among known subspecies. The Striped Hyena is the only hyena of four global species found within the Palestinian territories.

Palestine Museum of Natural History

The primary mission of the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and its companion, the Institute of Biodiversity Research (PIBR) is to promote research and educate people.
The importance of conserving and protecting our natural world places strong emphasis on the teaching of elementary and high school students at the Museum.
Most important is to train the young people to pass on their acquired knowledge so as to promote responsible behavior between people and the environment. To that end, students coming to the Museum play a critical role.

MENA food security

' IDS'
The projected impacts of climate change on food security in the Middle East and North Africa(MENA)

'How mattresses could solve hunger'

' The BBC'
' Syrian refugees at Za'atari camp in Jordan and scientists from the University of Sheffield in the UK are working together to create a way to grow healthy, fresh food with nothing but water and old mattress foam.

These 'recycled gardens' use the mattresses in place of the soil, which solves two problems in one: It reuses the mountain of plastic mattresses that have piled up in the camp and it allows everyone to grow fresh food in a crowded, desert environment.'

Qatar air-conditioning the outdoors

' The independent'
Temperatures in Qatar – one of the hottest places on Earth – have risen so much that authorities have installed air conditioning in the open air including in streets and outdoor markets.

Eat less meat

'Nature'
IPCC: UN climate change report calls for change to human diet.
Efforts to curb greenhouse gas-emissions and the impacts of global warming will fall significantly short without drastic changes in global land use, agriculture and human diets, leading researchers warn in a high-level report commissioned by the United Nations.

Environmental Sustainability
in Palestine

' Efforts are underway to conduct faunal and floral biodiversity studies in Wadi Zarqa al-Ulwi ,Palestine, to determine the most threatened and endangered species according to the IUCN Red Data Book; identify threats to the existing ecosystems in the wadi; and carry out an environmental-awareness and education program in the area that would lead to sustainability..'

Water & Energy Nexus

'EcoPeace'
' A Water & Energy Nexus would create a healthy interconnectedness and interdependence between the Levant countries.

The Water-Energy Nexus Project aims at researching and advocating for a Water and Sustainable Energy Nexus approach to counter the effects of climate change and its potential negative security implications, while providing solutions to water scarcity in the region.'

Mega solar park in Dubai

'CNN'
' A a monumental construction effort is making headway. Located deep within Dubai's desert interior, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park continues to grow and has just passed another milestone.

In its eighth year of development, once finished, the $13.6 billion investment could power as many as 1.3 million homes, reducing carbon emissions by 6.5 million tonnes annually..'

STATE OF THE WORLD’s BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

'UN- FAO'
' A UN report presents the first global assessment of biodiversity for food and agriculture (BFA) and represents critical reading for scientists, policy makers and the wider stakeholders in the MENA.

It describes the many contributions that BFA makes to food security and nutrition, livelihoods, the resilience of production systems, the sustainable intensification of food production and the supply of multiple ecosystem services; the major drivers of change affecting BFA; the status and trends of various components of BFA; the state of management of BFA; the state of policies, institutions and capacities that support the sustainable use and conservation of BFA; and needs and challenges in the management of BFA.'

The ecologists rescuing the natural wonders of Libya's Farwa island

'Middle East Eye'
'A group of volunteers from western Libya is striving to protect Farwa, a home to turtles and flamingos, from neglect and disaster.'

A boost for Palestinian science

'nature'
'Researchers from around the world can help to support and collaborate with colleagues in troubled regions.'

'In the Palestinian territories, science struggles against all odds
Travel restrictions and paltry funding hamper researchers, who are trying to build a scientific base.'

A Jordanian biologist redefines success for women in science

'nature'
'Can a breakthrough in stem-cell research revolutionize feminism? Can a scientist apply the scientific method to her own life to find solutions to social problems?
In Five Scarves, Jordanian molecular biologist Rana Dajani reveals with passion and cogency how she has explored those possibilities. She speaks to humanity’s capacity to overcome challenges — not least, improving the treatment of women and children.'

Middle East snapshot

'The Middle East and North Africa is becoming a hot bed of activity for research, particularly in the fields of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
A recent report explores the research landscape across the MENA identifying the most prolific institutions for research output, notable areas of research concentration and the most cited papers coming out of each country. '

Can rocks from Oman fight climate change?

A professor in Oman has come up with a discovery that promises a breakthrough solution to the issue of carbon emissions on a global level: a rock commonly found just under the crust of the earth could soak up the planet’s entire carbon dioxide emissions, even without being mined.

Credit: gulfnews

Palestine Museum of Natural History

The Palestine Institute of Biodiversity Research and its Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) works to research, educate and conserve our natural world, culture and heritage and use knowledge to promote responsible human interactions with our environment.

Threat of 3C warming to Alexandria

The UN is warning that we are on course for 3C of global warming and the report will be published shortly. The impact of such a rise in global temperature is projected to be devastating to cities in coastal regions.

The IPCC reported that Alexandria’s beaches would be submerged even with a 0.5-metre sea-level rise, while 8 million people would be displaced by flooding in Alexandria and the Nile Delta if no protective measures are taken. A 3C rise threatens far greater damage than that with added consequences for tourism.

Brilliant mathematician

Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win mathematics' Fields medal passes away.
She is the first woman and the first Iranian to be honored with the award, known for her work in the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces. “Mirzakhani specialized in theoretical mathematics that read like a foreign language by those outside of mathematics: moduli spaces, Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, Ergodic theory and symplectic geometry,” Stanford press announcement.

Gulf region predicted too hot if climate change is left unchecked

Hot spots in the Gulf region and Arabian Peninsula are projected to endure heatwaves challenging human survival and adaptability if climate change is left unchecked.

SESAME open- new light in the MENA

A new synchrotron particle accelerator for the MENA is now open in Jordan; the Synchrotron light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME). The Middle East’s first major international research centre for science application research.

Lake Urmia – Reversing environmental degradation

Lake Urmia in Iran, once the second largest saltwater lake in the world, had dried out. Years of efforts to bring water back to Lake Urmia have eventually succeeded.

Mega structures and solar power

At the edge of the Sahara desert in Morocco under the scorching sun lies an important mega structure harnessing an abundant source of energy. One of the largest solar projects in the world is being built in phases with a potential to provide electricity to a million people .

MENA Solar Power Leaders Share Knowledge in Ouarzazate

Rabat – Over 100 energy officials united at the world’s largest solar power plant in Ouarzazate for the World Bank’s launching of the “Middle East and North Africa Concentrated Solar Power Knowledge & Innovation Program” (MENA CSP KIP), designed to support MENA officials exploring the potential of concentrated solar power (CSP) as a sustainable source for their countries’ energy demands.

Worldwide analysis of diabetes with 4·4 million participants

The burden of diabetes has increased faster in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. Age- standardised adult diabetes prevalence in 2014 was lowest in northwestern Europe, and highest in Polynesia and Micronesia, at nearly 25%, followed by Melanesia and the Middle East and North Africa.