In this session the panelists will examine various
current and crucial issues that deal with environment, natural
resources and development in several Arab countries (Lebanon, Syria,
Iraq, Egypt).
Gloria Ibrahim Saliba (UCLA) in her talk Observations on the Environmental
Movement in Post-war Lebanon will discuss the development of this movement
and its role in the social and political change in
post-war Lebanon.
Dr. Sharif Elmusa will argue in his paper The Truth About the Coming Water
Wars in the Middle East: Focus on the Euphrates-Tigris Rivers that the
necessary conceptual and empirical work that would put prediction about
future water wars in the Middle East, on solid grounds has yet to be done and
that a case-study approach is essential. He proposes a methodology
(technical and political) of the information and analysis required as an
input into prediction.
Dr. Gunter Meyer, in his talk “Gated Communities on the Mediterranean
Coast of Egypt:A Contribution to Sustainable Development?”
The paper will look at the sustainability of the development of
“tourist villages” that have been built as “gated
communities” or are under construction along the Mediterranean coast of
Egypt. It will discuss its social and economic ramifications including its
impact on the local Bedouins. The presentation is based on three field
studies by the author in 1995, 1999 and 2000.
Dr Galal Osman in his paper “Health of Children in
Mega City of
Cairo,” Dr Osman discuss the impact of urbanization
on widening gaps in
access to health services between rich and poor; changing
patterns in infant
feeding; heightened risk of food insecurity for very poor
families in the
urban cash economy; and exposure to the pollution and
contaminants that
pervade the urban environment. . Yet with the increasing proportion
of the
population in developing countries who are urban dweller, attention to
urban
health —particularly the health problems of the urban poor
— is
an increasingly demanding priority.
Borre Ludvigsen in his talk “Web-publishing an industrial and
political
adventure in Lebanon; Tapline -shattered ideals and insights
gained”
This talk will discuss some of the empowering, but also disturbing
aspects of
publishing cultural information in and about societies where much
cultural
information is considered a very powerful weapon traditionally
belonging in
the domain of the few. It will also discuss the background
information, facts
and statistics about the Al Mashriq cultural webserver. Also an
overview of
the background to the Trans Arabian Pipeline Company how on
illustrating how
collecting the facts both overt and covert would hardly have been
possible without the aid of the Internet especially during the
publishing process.
