Expanding ocean protection and peace: a window for science diplomacy in the Gulf.

The ecological state of the Persian or Arabian Gulf (hereafter 'Gulf') is in sharp decline. Calls for comprehensive ecosystem-based management approaches and transboundary conservation have gone largely unanswered, despite mounting marine threats made worse by climate change. The region's long-standing political tensions add additional complexity, especially now as some Gulf countries will soon adopt ambitious goals to protect their marine environments as part of new global environmental commitments. The recent interest in global commitments comes at a time when diplomatic relations among all Gulf countries are improving. There is a window of opportunity for Gulf countries to meet global marine biodiversity conservation commitments, but only if scientists engage in peer-to-peer diplomacy to build trust, share knowledge and strategize marine conservation options across boundaries. The Gulf region needs more ocean diplomacy and coordination; just as critically, it needs actors at its science-policy interface to find better ways of adapting cooperative models to fit its unique marine environment, political context and culture. We propose a practical agenda for scientist-led diplomacy in the short term and lines of research from which to draw (e.g. co-production, knowledge exchange) to better design future science diplomacy practices and processes suited to the Gulf's setting.

Caught off guard and beaten: The Ukraine war and food security in the Middle East.

The Ukraine war has led to a severe global food crisis due to complex supply disruptions and price increases of agricultural inputs. Countries of the Middle East have been directly affected because of their high dependence on food imports from Russia and Ukraine. Furthermore, this food crisis comes at times of high baseline vulnerability due to the compound impacts of COVID-19, repeated food shocks, and weakened states due to political-economic difficulties. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the food-related vulnerability of Middle Eastern countries in the wake of the Ukraine war. It contextualizes the varying impacts of this crisis in the region, and highlights country-level response strategies. The analysis shows a concerning and deepened crisis in the case of highly exposed and politically fragile countries with weakened food sectors; e.g., Lebanon, Sudan, and Yemen. Political-economic instabilities, limited domestic agriculture, and the lack of reliable grain reserves have aggravated the current food crisis in some countries. At the same time, indigenous short-term responses related to regional aid and cooperation have emerged, particularly in the Gulf countries, which have witnessed soaring revenues from higher energy prices. Alongside more regional frameworks for collaboration on food security, future action to mitigate such food crises should include the strengthening of local sustainable agriculture, storage capacities, and grain procurement strategies from international suppliers.

From scenario to mounting risks: COVID-19's perils for development and supply security in the Sahel.

The African Sahel countries are inherently fragile, environmentally insecure and economically weak. This paper underscores the compounded impacts brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic on resource supply security and, hence, the long-term development of the region. It outlines the Sahel-specific COVID-19 scenario by firstly highlighting the underlying vulnerabilities and later linking the health sector outcomes to increased political instability and environmental insecurity, particularly the deterioration of food security. In this sense, this paper shows from a region-wide perspective how COVID-19 in the Sahel is associated with enlarged sociopolitical developmental perils. Lower remittance sent by expatriates, violent conflicts, increased cross-border terrorism and migration, discriminant mobility restrictions of people and goods, weak national healthcare infrastructures, bottlenecks in international aid, pressures on the education system and recent climate extremes are some revealing examples of aggravators of the impacts on the supply of vital resources, such as food. This paper also shows the importance of considering the close interlinks between health, food and political stability in the Sahel. There is a paramount need for more comprehensive approaches linking human health to other sectors, and for re-considering local sustainable agriculture. To avoid prolonged or recurrent humanitarian crises, the Sahel countries need to strengthen response capacities through public sector-led responses. Examples of these responses include reinforced national disaster programs for the vulnerable, support to sustainable agriculture and food markets, improved performance and communication of public sector relief, state-based cooperation, building of regional alliances and peacemaking efforts.

The water-energy-food nexus and COVID-19: Towards a systematization of impacts and responses.

The COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to examine the impacts of system-wide crises on key supply sectors such as water, energy and food. These sectors are becoming increasingly interlinked in environmental policy-making and with regard to achieving supply security. There is a pressing need for a systematization of impacts and responses beyond individual disruptions. This paper provides a holistic assessment of the implications of COVID-19 on the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. First, it integrates the academic literature related to single cases and disruptions to provide a broader view of COVID-19 demand- and supply-side disruptions and immediate effects. Then, the major, long-term impact categories of medicalization/hygienization, (re)localization of production, and demand fluctuations are highlighted. These impacts result in priority cross-links such as irrigation, energy requirements for local food production, energy use for water and wastewater treatment, or water for energy use. Finally, sector-level insights on impacts and responses are provided, drawing from illustrative cases. The analysis of impacts of COVID-19 on the WEF nexus reflects heterogeneous experiences of short-term adaptations, and highlights the revaluation of the water-food-trade nexus. Revived debates on food sufficiency can benefit from green applications to minimize expected trade-offs. The current crisis also reveals some gaps in the WEF nexus debates with regard to the lack of risk-based perspectives and the need for a better consideration of spatial aspects in resource integration. Regarding resource-security issues in the WEF nexus, the COVID-19 stress test boosts debates concerning the adequacy of the production value chains (e.g., contingency and storage, diversification, and self-sufficiency) and the value of cross-border integration (e.g., trade, globalization, and aid).

Marine health of the Arabian Gulf: Drivers of pollution and assessment approaches focusing on desalination activities.

The Arabian Gulf is one of the most adversely affected marine environments worldwide, which results from combined pollution drivers including climate change, oil and gas activities, and coastal anthropogenic disturbances. Desalination activities are one of the major marine pollution drivers regionally and internationally. Arabian Gulf countries represent a hotspot of desalination activities as they are responsible for nearly 50% of the global desalination capacity. Building desalination plants, up-taking seawater, and discharging untreated brine back into the sea adversely affects the biodiversity of the marine ecosystems. The present review attempted to reveal the potential negative effects of desalination plants on the Gulf's marine environments. We emphasised different conventional and innovative assessment tools used to assess the health of marine environments and evaluate the damage exerted by desalination activity in the Gulf. Finally, we suggested effective management approaches to tackle the issue including the significance of national regulations and regional cooperation.

Balancing the benefits from the water-energy-land-food nexus through agroforestry in the Sahel.

Regions affected by resource scarcity, poverty, and land-use conflicts need to advocate the merits of practices strongly grounded in sustainable land management. This review paper provides an analysis of agroforestry as an integrated system embedded in complex relations between resource uses in the Water-Energy-Land-Food (WELF) nexus. Using the African Sahel region as a case study, the paper explains the need for understanding land management practices, such as agroforestry, through the lens of trade-offs and benefits inherent in the WELF nexus. Agroforestry practices are demonstrated to be valuable interventions leading to i) resilience to climate stresses, ii) water, energy, and food securities, iii) mitigation of resource-oriented harbingers of conflicts and iv) development opportunities. These goals can also yield valuable results in terms of promoting sustainable development, i.e. functional ecosystems, livelihoods, and human security. Two overarching sub-nexuses, namely agroforestry-food-energy and agroforestry-food-water-climate, are identified in the Sahelian context and conceptualized. Primarily, the trade-offs outlined within these sub-nexuses are fuelwood vs. crops, use of land for more forests vs. more cropping, and water availability for agroforestry vs. agroforestry impacts on the water cycle. Despite the positive outcomes and opportunities, agroforestry systems in the Sahel still face some challenges such as vague land use rights, inadequate capacities and lack of investments. Policy recommendations are synthesized at three levels. This synthesis involves remedies to lessen pressures at the interlinks of WELF resource use, overarching remedies in the two sub-nexuses, and remedies across all the sectors and issues for improving agroforestry outcomes. Optimal remedies stress the importance of choosing the right land, water and plant combinations as well as incorporating efficiency measures and alternative sources. A successful agroforestry system is characterized by a conducive environment at the farm level in terms of institutions, management, enhancing the farmer's capacity, and good infrastructure.

Towards understanding the integrative approach of the water, energy and food nexus.

The water, energy and food nexus (WEF nexus) is currently quite popular in environmental management. The concept found a fertile ground in science and policymaking, but there is no consistent view on the meaning of integration within the nexus. Here, a wealth of publications is reviewed in an endeavour to: (1) reveal the lines of justification for the need of the WEF nexus debate and (2) identify the range of tools for analysing the interdependent resource issues of the nexus using an integrated framework of science and policy. There are three drivers behind the emergence of the nexus thinking. These are a) increasing resource interlinks due to growing scarcities, b) recent resource supply crises, and c) failures of sector-driven management strategies. Evaluation of the WEF nexus integrative debate can be carried out using four key criteria, namely ability to change current policy debates, issue and thinking novelty, practicability and measurability, and clearness and implementation roadmap. It is clear that, although the nexus has been quite successful in changing policy debates, issue prioritization is missing and seems to be left to specific case studies and policymakers' choices. There is a high need for 'incorporation' and 'cross-linking' of issues between the three resources. In this regard, nexus governance is the missing link in the nexus debate.