Environmental Activism in Post-Arab Uprisings: More than Shades of Green

The main premise of environmental activism is not only associated with conflicting interests regarding natural resources use, their management plans and possible protection methods. Rather, environmental activism underpins political causes and ramifications that impinge on socio-economic inequalities and established political and economic orders. In the wake of the Arab Uprisings, numerous environmental movements flared up across the Arab region reflecting changing opportunities for activists as well as peoples’ perceptions of flagrant socio-economic and environmental injustices. This chapter explores the causes of the environmental injustice in the Arab region, environmental activism, its main causes, how it used to manifest itself, how states in the Arab region respond to environmental claims and approach environmental activists. In addition, the main conditions that influenced the praxis of environmental activism in the light of the dynamics and outcomes of the Arab uprisings will be elicited, with a particular focus on three major environmental movements: Algeria’s ‘No to Fracking’ movement, Lebanon’s ‘You Stink’ movement, and Morocco’s ‘We Are Not Trash’ movement.