Climate Change and the Middle East : Past, Present and Future.

Conference Objectives :

• Global warming is now generally agreed to be inevitable, though there many differing assessments as to how much temperatures will rise and at what speed. All countries are now urgently examining the potential impact of climate change on their water situation and on society as a whole.

• The Middle East, like other regions, needs to urgently examine the way in which potential change may affect its future water supply and this in turn means examining the inter-relationship between climate variations, water supply, land use, economic planning and demographic change.

• Such questions cannot be dealt with on the basis of national interest only but demand cross-border and cross-disciplinary cooperation.

• This symposium aims to achieve this goal by inviting researchers from a broad range of related disciplines and by encouraging those most directly concerned, decision makers and stakeholders, to work together on long term cooperative solutions to the problems which will have to be faced.