EcoMENA – Vision and Mission

The MENA region is plagued by a host of issues including water scarcity, waste disposal, food security, industrial pollution and desertification. Providing free access to quality information and knowledge-based resources motivates youngsters in a big way. EcoMENA provides encouragement to masses in tackling major environmental challenges by empowering them with knowledge and by providing them a solid platform to share their views with the outside world. Salman Zafar, Founder of EcoMENA, talks to the Florentine Association of International Relations (FAIR) about the vision, aims, objectives and rationale behind the creation of EcoMENA.  FAIR: What is EcoMENA and what is its primary … Continue reading

Environmental Perceptions and Attitudes in Qatar – A Survey

Measuring environmental knowledge, opinion and attitude is of paramount importance to the academics and policymakers for developing better policies for human well-being and protection of ecosystems. Self-reporting attitudes and behaviours are one of the ways to measure. A first-of-its-kind national opinion survey on environmental issues was conducted in 2016 in a series of three surveys including ten socio-demographic questions in each survey. The survey covered a wide range of topics from climate change to government policies to urbanization to food. The results show a large number of people are deeply aware of the local and global environmental problems. Overall, the … Continue reading

Earth Day 2017: Environmental and Climate Literacy

The campaign theme for Earth Day 2017 is Environmental & Climate Literacy, and conservationists, researchers and educators will be using this Earth Day to increase awareness about climate change and environmental issues. Earth Day has now grown into a global environmental tradition making it the largest civic observance in the world and is widely celebrated event in which over one billion people from over 190 countries will participate by taking suitable actions for saving our mother Earth. Significance of Climate Literacy “Education is the foundation for progress,” Earth Day Network said on their website. “We need to build a global citizenry … Continue reading

#InspireMENA – Storytelling on Sustainable Development in MENA

Over 350 million people live in MENA and share Arabic as a common language. To date, there is very little literature in Arabic about sustainable development in general and specifically on the United Nation’s new global goals and the associated agencies and initiatives. More than half of that population is below 25 and is currently going through a lot in terms of political, economic, and social change. Despite all of this, those young people are innovating and making positive change in their communities. It is of utmost importance to support such impact with credible information, more visibility for success stories, … Continue reading

The Importance of Ecological Education in Schools

How important is the environment in our everyday life and what impact we have on it and what can you do as a student? There is no need to mention how radical our lives have changed in the last decades due to the ignorance we gave to the eco-friendly aspects. How bad things are? The environmental status of each year is increasingly worrying: the forested spaces are reduced, the deserts are spreading, the agricultural soils are degraded, the degree of pollution is higher, and the ozone layer is thinner, the greenhouse effect is accentuated, and many plant and animal species … Continue reading

Knowledge and Youth-Led Climate Action in the Arab Region: A Regional Survey

UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science in the Arab Region – Cairo Office is leading the development of a regional report entitled Knowledge and Youth-Led Climate Action in the Arab Region. This report will analyze the knowledge dimension of youth-led climate action in the Arab region including the sources youth rely on, the knowledge they generate, and the avenues they utilize to disseminate information and knowledge in order to make an impact in their societies and with policy and decision makers. More information about the report is provided in the abovementioned link. An integral part of this report is a regional survey that contributes … Continue reading