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THE WORLD BANK – In the 1990s, concern for the environment was not a top priority in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). Fifteen years later, there’s been a “quantum leap” on the environmental front as the region has moved from zero investment in environmental protection to investments in every country, says Sherif Arif, World Bank Regional Environmental Advisor for MENA. The turning point came in 1999, when the Bank began confronting countries with the high cost of doing nothing about environmental degradation, says Arif.
