A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows security forces walking on a burnt hill Ain Halaqim, in the western countryside of Hama Governorate, during fires. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows fires on a hill in Ain Halaqim, in the western countryside of Syria's Hama governorate. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows a Syrian man attempting to put off a fire on a hill in Ain Halaqim, in the western countryside of Syria's Hama governorate. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows fires on a hill in Hazzur, in the western countryside of Hama Governorate. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows security forces walking on a burnt hill Ain Halaqim, in the western countryside of Hama Governorate, during fires. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows smoke billows from fire in al-Hayluna village, in the western countryside of Syria's Hama governorate. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows smoke billows from fire in al-Hayluna village, in the western countryside of Syria's Hama governorate. AFP
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows smoke billows from fire in al-Hayluna village, in the western countryside of Syria's Hama governorate. AFP
The images of bushfires in the US this month in California and Oregon were harrowing and apocalyptic. Orange, smoke-filled skies, blazing fonts of fire dotting the forested landscape, soot-covered firefighters sweating with exhaustion. This year has been unrelenting, and the scorched earth appeared to be a metaphor of the state of the world.
But there were other fires burning closer to home. This month, Syria, spared the large-scale military violence in recent months, endured dozens of wildfires in its agricultural hinterland in Hama and Jisr Al Shughour, as well as near the coastal regions of Latakia, which consumed several square kilometres of forests and burnt for a whole week through the area's lush greenery and forests, huge plumes of smoke filling the sky. An ongoing heatwave risks reviving the fires, which burnt on both sides of the frontline. Nearly 60 bushfires have occurred this year.
The fires are becoming increasingly common in the dry season between the summer and winter, and appear to have several causes. According to the independent Syrian media outlet Enab Baladi, it can be caused by farmers clearing out nearby land for possible cultivation, creating sources of coal from the partially burnt tree husks in preparation for the winter months in the fuel-starved nation, or due to arson. The result has been large tracts of land with destroyed ecosystems and further sorrow to add to the tab in a long-suffering nation.
A satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Maxar Technologies via AP
A satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Maxar Technologies via AP
A 2013 photo showing the Blue Nile river flowing near the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. AP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
Construction workers are seen at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
A view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
A general view of construction work at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa, Ethiopia. AFP, File
Sudan's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasir Mohamed (C) takes part in a video meeting over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on June 9, 2020. AFP
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry. AP
The Nile in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. AFP
The Nile in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. AFP
The Nile in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. AFP
A pleasure boat carrying tourists and locals sails on the Nile at sunset in Aswan, Egypt. AP, file
Sayed Ahmed Abdoh poles his boat to check fish traps in the Nile, near Abu Al Nasr village, about 770 kilometres south of Cairo, in Egypt. AP, file
An aerial view shows the Nile before sunset in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. AFP
An aerial view shows the Nile before sunset in the Egyptian capital, Cairo on June 20, 2020. AFP
The war has worsened some of these fires, partly because the affected area has long been a contested zone, making firefighting operations more difficult, and partly because some fires have been deliberately started to literally smoke out fighters or soldiers hiding in the forests, usually by the regime of Bashar Al Assad. In addition, firefighters on the opposition side, such as those from the White Helmets, the volunteer rescue organisation, say the fires have ignited unexploded ordinance in the area, further endangering rescue workers.
It may seem trite to worry about environmental devastation as a consequence of a war that has led to the death of over half a million people, displaced half of Syria’s pre-war population, ushered in a refugee crisis and a vacuum filled by extremists that reverberated around the world, caused untold numbers of permanent wounds and threw most of the population into pits of despair and destitution, not to mention the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and economic freefall.
But we ignore these environmental crises at our own peril, because as climate change accelerates and conflict leaves more destruction in its wake, we may end up finding ourselves with uninhabitable homes to go back to when the guns eventually fall silent, if they ever do so. Not only are we at the crossroads of geopolitical competition that has left many nations in ruin, we are also particularly vulnerable to long-term ecological losses and battles over resources, and the two feed off of each other in a wicked cycle.
Take food and water for example. As arable land shrinks and water sources dry up, all while climate change gathers pace, competition over water resources and food insecurity are likely to increase, fuelling further conflict and vice versa. Ethiopia's new Renaissance Dam is already a flashpoint of tension with Egypt, which will struggle to provide for its rapidly growing population. High temperatures and drought are already increasingly common in the fertile crescent and the Levant. In September 2014, I visited the area where the Litani River enters Lake Qaraoun – once gushing with water, that strip of the river was gone, replaced by cracked earth. The lake, created by a nearby dam, was the driest it has been since it was filled in 1959. A drought in Iraq last year was so severe that a 3,400-year-old hidden palace was uncovered in Kurdistan by the receding waters.
In October last year, Lebanon endured dozens of wildfires that burned through the countryside near the Chouf mountains for days, amid a heatwave that saw the highest recorded temperatures for that month, hospitalising and displacing dozens of people. They are likely to get worse as temperatures rise, and they came just before a wave of popular unrest demanding the overthrow of the Lebanese government that still persists to this day.
Yemenis wait to receive food rations from a charity group in the capital Sanaa. EPA
A Yemeni waits to receive rations in Sanaa. EPA
A Yemeni girl is given free food by a charity group in the city. EPA
Volunteers provide rations to people in Sanaa. EPA
Volunteers prepare food to be given to those in need in Sanaa. EPA
A Yemeni woman is among those who received rations from the charity group. EPA
A Yemeni man leaves with his food aid. EPA
War is further fuelling this cycle of misery by worsening food insecurity throughout the region, a situation that will only get worse with environmental degradation, dwindling water resources and economic decline. Yemen has endured an ongoing famine since 2016. The economic collapse in Lebanon has left the country short of fuel needed to transport and store food, compounded by the pandemic, leading humanitarian workers to warn that the country may be headed for famine by the end of 2020. Syria is faring no better. Most Arab countries are vulnerable to disruptions in food supply chains – in fact, all of them are net importers of grains, according to EcoMENA, an environmental consultancy.
These threats to livelihood do not even begin to address other aspects of environmental degradation in the region, from pollution due to urbanisation and use of fossil fuels, the pollution of waterways, fallout from the destruction of cities in war, rubbish disposal, or other failures of monumental scale in the region that should be classified as public health crises.
The fires in Syria have been subdued for now, but they are only a symptom of a deeper malaise. The wars we are fighting today have devastated nations and societies. If we do not act, there may not be much left that’s worth fighting over.
Kareem Shaheen is a veteran Middle East correspondent in Canada and columnist for The National
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
1.
United States
2.
China
3.
UAE
4.
Japan
5
Norway
6.
Canada
7.
Singapore
8.
Australia
9.
Saudi Arabia
10.
South Korea
GROUPS AND FIXTURES
Group A
UAE, Italy, Japan, Spain
Group B
Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Russia
Tuesday
4.15pm: Italy v Japan 5.30pm: Spain v UAE 6.45pm: Egypt v Russia 8pm: Iran v Mexico
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Racecard
7pm: Abu Dhabi - Conditions (PA) Dh 80,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.30pm: Dubai - Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,400m
8pm: Sharjah - Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,600m
8.30pm: Ajman - Handicap (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 2,200m
9pm: Umm Al Quwain - The Entisar - Listed (TB) Dh132,500 (D) 2,000m
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
