Katajun Amirpur, Ph.D., born 1971, is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Cologne. She previously taught at the Universities of Hamburg and Zurich and has published numerous monographs and scholarly articles, including New Thinking in Islam. For many years she has worked as a freelance journalist for prestigious newspapers.Eckart Ehlers, Ph.D. (1938), University of Bonn/Germany, was Professor of Geography at Marburg and Bonn universities, former Secretary General of the International Geographical Union (IGU) and Chair of the German National Committee of Global Change Research. He has published several books and many articles on the Middle East and nature-society interrelationships.

• ForewordAcknowledgementsList of Figures, Maps, and TablesList of AbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: The Mena Region: Climate, Culture, and Conflicts in the Middle East and North AfricaEckart Ehlers and Katajun AmirpurPart 1: Ideas1 And We Shall Save the Earth: Muslim Environmental StewardsKatajun Amirpur2 Wonder, Gratitude, and Justice as Ingredients for a Jewish Eco-TheologyEphraim MeirPart 2: Past3 Holocene Climate Variability of Mesopotamia and its Impact on the History of CivilisationMax Engel and Helmut Brückner4 Destructive Waters—Refreshing Waters: Ancient Near Eastern Aquatic Symbolism at the Dawn of HistoryRosel Pientka-Hinz5 Deserts—Wind—Water: Strategies of Human Adaptations and Renewable Resources in Extremely Arid Environments. A Historical RetrospectiveEckart EhlersPart 3: Present6 The Vanishing of Iran’s Lake UrmiaMatthias Schmidt7 Water in the Middle East: Hotspots of Scarcity and ConflictTobias von Lossow8 Climate Change and the Emerging Information Societies in the Arab RegionKerstin FritzschePart 4: Prospects9 DESERTEC: Europe—Middle East—North Africa Cooperation for Sustainable EnergyFranz Trieb10 Connecting Religion and the Environment in Islamic Education: Raising Awareness, Exploring Perspectives, and Defining Best PracticeUrsula Kowanda-YassinBibliographyIndex

Katajun Amirpur, Ph.D., born 1971, is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Cologne. She previously taught at the Universities of Hamburg and Zurich and has published numerous monographs and scholarly articles, including New Thinking in Islam. For many years she has worked as a freelance journalist for prestigious newspapers.Eckart Ehlers, Ph.D. (1938), University of Bonn/Germany, was Professor of Geography at Marburg and Bonn universities, former Secretary General of the International Geographical Union (IGU) and Chair of the German National Committee of Global Change Research. He has published several books and many articles on the Middle East and nature-society interrelationships.

• ForewordAcknowledgementsList of Figures, Maps, and TablesList of AbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: The Mena Region: Climate, Culture, and Conflicts in the Middle East and North AfricaEckart Ehlers and Katajun AmirpurPart 1: Ideas1 And We Shall Save the Earth: Muslim Environmental StewardsKatajun Amirpur2 Wonder, Gratitude, and Justice as Ingredients for a Jewish Eco-TheologyEphraim MeirPart 2: Past3 Holocene Climate Variability of Mesopotamia and its Impact on the History of CivilisationMax Engel and Helmut Brückner4 Destructive Waters—Refreshing Waters: Ancient Near Eastern Aquatic Symbolism at the Dawn of HistoryRosel Pientka-Hinz5 Deserts—Wind—Water: Strategies of Human Adaptations and Renewable Resources in Extremely Arid Environments. A Historical RetrospectiveEckart EhlersPart 3: Present6 The Vanishing of Iran’s Lake UrmiaMatthias Schmidt7 Water in the Middle East: Hotspots of Scarcity and ConflictTobias von Lossow8 Climate Change and the Emerging Information Societies in the Arab RegionKerstin FritzschePart 4: Prospects9 DESERTEC: Europe—Middle East—North Africa Cooperation for Sustainable EnergyFranz Trieb10 Connecting Religion and the Environment in Islamic Education: Raising Awareness, Exploring Perspectives, and Defining Best PracticeUrsula Kowanda-YassinBibliographyIndex

Katajun Amirpur, Ph.D., born 1971, is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Cologne. She previously taught at the Universities of Hamburg and Zurich and has published numerous monographs and scholarly articles, including New Thinking in Islam. For many years she has worked as a freelance journalist for prestigious newspapers.Eckart Ehlers, Ph.D. (1938), University of Bonn/Germany, was Professor of Geography at Marburg and Bonn universities, former Secretary General of the International Geographical Union (IGU) and Chair of the German National Committee of Global Change Research. He has published several books and many articles on the Middle East and nature-society interrelationships.

• ForewordAcknowledgementsList of Figures, Maps, and TablesList of AbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: The Mena Region: Climate, Culture, and Conflicts in the Middle East and North AfricaEckart Ehlers and Katajun AmirpurPart 1: Ideas1 And We Shall Save the Earth: Muslim Environmental StewardsKatajun Amirpur2 Wonder, Gratitude, and Justice as Ingredients for a Jewish Eco-TheologyEphraim MeirPart 2: Past3 Holocene Climate Variability of Mesopotamia and its Impact on the History of CivilisationMax Engel and Helmut Brückner4 Destructive Waters—Refreshing Waters: Ancient Near Eastern Aquatic Symbolism at the Dawn of HistoryRosel Pientka-Hinz5 Deserts—Wind—Water: Strategies of Human Adaptations and Renewable Resources in Extremely Arid Environments. A Historical RetrospectiveEckart EhlersPart 3: Present6 The Vanishing of Iran’s Lake UrmiaMatthias Schmidt7 Water in the Middle East: Hotspots of Scarcity and ConflictTobias von Lossow8 Climate Change and the Emerging Information Societies in the Arab RegionKerstin FritzschePart 4: Prospects9 DESERTEC: Europe—Middle East—North Africa Cooperation for Sustainable EnergyFranz Trieb10 Connecting Religion and the Environment in Islamic Education: Raising Awareness, Exploring Perspectives, and Defining Best PracticeUrsula Kowanda-YassinBibliographyIndex