Arab states ignore climate change

“Climate change? What climate change?” These are the twoquestions I often hear when I mention this issue to Arabofficials. If I insist, they get irritated and change thesubject. Others try to play it smart and argue like some USoil corporates, claiming current climate changes are naturalphenomena and not connected to any human activity. Thisdefensive approach is understandable in a region that hasenough political and economic problems, ranging from thePalestinian-Israeli conflict to civil wars in Iraq andSudan, huge discrepancies between poor and rich in mostsocieties and visible pollution in the air of cities as wellas along rivers and coastlines. But the longer Arab leaders ignore the issue of climatechange, the higher the price Arab societies will pay in thefuture. And this price will be paid with money and humanlives. Sadly, environmental protection is not high on theagenda of Arab governments, the 2005 EnvironmentalSustainability Index found out. Its scores, given to 146countries,