Israel and the Palestinian territories are among the most climate vulnerable places on the planet. Whereas worldwide temperatures have increased by an average of 1.1 ºC (1.9 ºF) since pre-industrial times, in Israel and the surrounding areas, average temperatures have risen by 1.5 ºC (2.7 ºF) between 1950 and 2017, with a forecasted increase of 4 ºC (7.2 ºF) by the end of the century. Meanwhile, rising sea levels — projected by Israel’s Environment Ministry to be as high as a meter by 2050, according to a new investigative report by Haaretz newspaper — threaten to obliterate Israel’s famed beaches, damage its desalination plants and undermine the sewage and drainage systems of many coastal cities. In the densely populated Gaza strip, where 2.1 million Palestinians are crammed into 365 square km (141 sq. mi.), sea level rise means a loss of precious real estate as well as saltwater intrusion into an already overtaxed aquifer.

In an arid region already threatened by desertification and declining precipitation, one would think that the looming climate catastrophe would catalyze a powerful climate movement. Instead, the whole thing is largely an afterthought. In Israel and the Palestinian territories the threat is both existential and more acute. In this contested land, climate action is hamstrung by zero-sum battles over territorial, political and historic rights, even as a warming climate exacerbates those tensions.

Aryn Baker. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is also a looming climate disaster. Time, January 2023 (adapted).