{
"authors": [
"Camille Ammoun",
"Yasmine Zarhloule",
"Armenak Tokmajyan",
"Ilyssa Yahmi",
"Courtney Freer",
"Zeinab Shuker"
],
"type": "event",
"centerAffiliationAll": "",
"centers": [
"Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center"
],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center",
"programAffiliation": "",
"projects": [
"The Climate Crisis, Resilience, and Displacement in the Middle East and North Africa"
],
"topics": [
"Climate Change"
]
}
Climate Mobility in the MENA Region: Between Adaptation and Displacement
Mon, May 11th, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:15 PM (GMT+3)
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As climate pressures intensify across the Middle East and North Africa, human mobility is increasingly shaped by overlapping forces such as environmental degradation, economic crisis, governance failures, and conflict. Movement is rarely driven by climate alone, making it difficult to understand who moves, who stays, and why, especially as many affected communities remain underrepresented in policy and research.
To address these issues, the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center will host a virtual panel discussion on May 11, from 4:00 PM to 5:15 PM Beirut Time, bringing together five researchers who conducted fieldwork in Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Iraq. The panel will consist of Yasmine Zarhloule, nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, Armenak Tokmajyan, nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, Ilyssa Yahmi, assistant professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris (AUP), Courtney Freer, an assistant professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University, and Zeinab Shuker, assistant professor of sociology at Sam Houston State University, Texas.
The discussion will explore how these intersecting pressures are reshaping mobility, the limits of local adaptation, and the gaps in current policy frameworks. It will also seek to highlight shared dynamics across cases, leading to a reflection on what more anticipatory and grounded policy responses could look like.
The event will be in English and moderated by Camille Ammoun, nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center.
Viewers are invited to submit questions via the live chat feature on Facebook and YouTube.
For more information, please contact Najwa Yassine at najwa.yassine@carnegie-mec.org.
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
Event Speakers
Nonresident Scholar , Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Camille Ammoun is a nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center. His research focuses on climate change, political economy, and urban development.
Nonresident Scholar, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Yasmine Zarhloule is a nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center.
Nonresident Scholar Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Armenak Tokmajyan is a nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. His research focuses on borders and conflict, Syrian refugees, and state-society relations in Syria.
Ilyssa Yahmi
Assistant Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris (AUP)
Ilyssa Yahmi is an Assistant Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris (AUP). Her research focuses on non-traditional security issues related to smuggling, borders, conflict, mobility, and identity, particularly in Africa and the Mediterranean Basin.
Courtney Freer
Assistant Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University
Courtney Freer is an assistant professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University.
Zeinab Shuker
Zeinab Shuker is an assistant professor of sociology at Sam Houston State University, Texas. Her research interests revolve around comparative global political economy, democracy, climate change, and theory, with special emphasis on the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular.