Sorry this posting is late. My computer crashed and burned and IT needed time to try and heal the wounds. I am doing homework at work
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=121163&d=4&m=4&y=2009
The article above discusses a new study being launched into the Saudi Arabian coral reef system in the Red sea. The study is a collaboration between organizations in the United States, Saudi Arabia and the international community. While the coral reefs being studied have not suffered from the impacts of war, in the sense that they have not be subjected to oil spills, but only the stresses put on them by fishermen. So it isn't really the environmental impacts of war, more the environmental impacts of daily, normal, life.
What I found so interesting though, is that collaboration on scientific research like this. So often I tend to think of the Middle East as a region so riddled by war, conflict and political divides that they never encounter or productively deal with other issues. Articles like this show that Arab nations are concerned with domestic issues as well, and are actively working to find solutions to environmental problems within their own borders.
ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
15 years ago
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What you wrote that you found this article interesting because of the fact that they collaborated, made me think about "The Lemon Tree". In my reflection I wrote about how strange it was for me to imagine an Israeli and an Arab talking about their land and Katrinka told me that that's perfectly normal under the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think that we would be surprised about this, just because the media do not talk about this type of thing usually. But I am sure that even the most unexpected countries have scientific ties with the U.S. and the international community... or at least I hope so!
At the same time Saudi Arabia and the United States have been allies since the second world war, so it makes sense that they would collaborate. Still, it's really nice to see the countries collaborating on something other than war and oil. Even more interesting is a study that talks about the possibly negative effects of an oil mining... this would seem to go against "US security interests." It's interesting that the reports said that there were no negative effects of the oil mining on the coral reefs... I wonder how politically influenced these reports were....
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