INTERVIEW LIVING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE
MAPPING RISK, BUILDING HOPE, DRIVING ACTION How young MENA scientists are using spatial data to track climate risks and guide smarter decision-making
By Sanae Okamoto, UNU-MERIT, and Howard Hudson, OPEC Fund
Qamar Al-Mimi
P eople across the Middle East are no strangers to extreme weather – be it heat waves, dust storms or flash floods. The difference with climate change is that the old extremes are ratcheting up, while the usual weather patterns are becoming less and less predictable. In Kuwait, for example, temperatures increasingly surpass 50°C, turning urban neighborhoods into unbearable heat islands. In Iraq, waves of dust storms have covered much of the country, “suffocating” thousands of people to the point of hospitalization. Further west, rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion are threatening large swathes of agricultural land in Egypt’s Nile Delta, hitting the livelihoods of farming communities.
This is not the new “climate normal” – rather the new “climate unpredictable.” And it is this systemic unpredictability, this wave upon wave of force majeure, that leads young people in particular to feel powerless and suffer climate anxiety. Yet across the MENA region, a new generation of scientists are using technology to drive real-world recovery. For Qamar Al-Mimi, a young Jordanian Geographical Information Systems (GIS) specialist, using spatial data to understand environmental and climate risks is the first crucial step toward building regional climate resilience, while at the same time building hope and agency. We spoke with her to find out more about her important work and the future facing her region.
Qamar Al-Mimi is a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing Specialist with over 12 years of experience applying geospatial technologies across the Middle East. She served for over a decade at Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, working on biodiversity mapping and monitoring, ecological assessments, baseline studies, spatial analysis and habitat restoration. With a Master’s in GIS and a Bachelor’s in Agricultural Engineering, Land and Water Management, she has led various projects, research and capacity- building initiatives supporting environmental and resource management.
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