Background

Dr. Tamer Afifi holds a PhD Degree in Economics (International Trade) from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, a Master of Arts Degree in Economics of Development from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Egypt. Tamer has worked for five years as a Lecturer of Economics at the Faculty of Commerce, Sohag University, Egypt, before being promoted to Assistant Professor. He has mainly lectured Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, International Trade and Econometrics. 

During his work at Sohag University, he has also supervised undergraduate and graduate students and organized and coordinated international university exchange programmes. Prior to his work at UNU-EHS, Tamer joined the Bonn International Graduate School (BIGS-DR) of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, where his main area of research was International Economics and Regional Trade Agreements.

Working Area at UNU-EHS

Tamer is Associate Academic Officer in the Environmental Migration, Social Vulnerability and Adaptation (EMSVA) section of UNU-EHS. He mainly works in the area of Environmental Change and Forced Migration. His work focuses inter alia on economic aspects and modeling techniques in association with environmental migration. Regionally, Tamer’s work mainly focuses on North Africa and the Middle East (MENA), Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia, and he has conducted field research in all these regions. Currently, he is research director of the Where the Rain Falls Project that covers case studies in Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana, Tanzania Guatemala and Peru. In addition to lecturing in the UNU-EHS PhD Block courses and other related external courses, Tamer participates in developing UNU-EHS research projects and organizing conferences and workshops of the Institute.

Publications

Afifi, T. (2011): Stealth Environmental Influences on Economic Migration in Egypt, Africa Initiative Discussion Papers No.1 – July 2011

Afifi, T. (2011): Environment and Migration: Conceptual Framework. In: Budzinski, M. (Hrsg.) (2011): Flucht und Migration durch Klimawandel - Eine Globale Herausforderung. Dokumentation einer Tagung der Evangelischen Akademie Bad Boll 24.-26. September 2010. pp. 34-43.

Afifi, T. (2011): Environment and Migration: Field Research in Egypt and Niger. In: Budzinski, M. (Hrsg.) (2011): Flucht und Migration durch Klimawandel - Eine Globale Herausforderung. Dokumentation einer Tagung der Evangelischen Akademie Bad Boll 24.-26. September 2010. pp. 115-120.

Afifi, T. (2011): Economic or Environmental Migration? The Push Factors in Niger, International Migration Journal, International Organization for Migration, Special Issue, ISSN 0020-7985, Blackwell.

Warner, K., Afifi, T., de Sherbinin, A., Adamo, S.B., Ehrhart, C. (2011): Environmental change and forced migration scenarios: methods and findings from the Nile Delta, Sahel, and Mekong Delta. In Piguet, E., Pecoud, A., de Guchteneire, P. (Eds). Migration and Climate Change. UNESCO. June 2011. ISBN: 9781107662254.

Milan, A., Areikat, S., Afifi, T. (2011): Environmentally Induced Migration and Sustainable Development. Conference Paper, 18th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Rome, 29 June / 2 July 2011.

Afifi,T. (2010): The environmental root causes triggering economic migration: The case of Egypt. In: Afifi, T.; Jäger, J. (Eds.): Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability, ISBN 978-3-642-12415-0, Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 197-209.

Afifi, T. (2009): Egyptian water and soil: a cause for migration and security threats? In: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, Springer, Netherlands, pp. 131-143.

Afifi, T. (2009): Niger: Case Study Report for the Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios (EACH-FOR) Project. UNU-EHS, Bonn. 

Afifi, T. (2009): Egypt: Case Study Report for the EACH-FOR Project. UNU-EHS, Bonn.

Warner, K.; Stal, M.; Dun, O.; Afifi, T. (2009): Researching environmental change and migration: Evaluation of EACH-FOR methodology and application in 23 case studies worldwide. In: Laczko, F.; Aghazarm, C. (Eds.): Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence. IOM, Geneva, pp. 197-244.

Afifi, T. (2008): The Impact of Environmental Problems on Migration in Egypt. In: Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability (EFMSV) International Conference, UNU-EHS, Bonn.

Afifi,T. (2008): The Impact of Environmental Problems on Migration in the Republic of Niger. In: Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability (EFMSV) International Conference, UNU-EHS, Bonn.

Warner, K.; Afifi, T.; Dun, O.; Stal, M.; Schmidl, S.; Bogardi, J. (2008): Human security, climate change, and environmentally induced migration. In: Dokos et al. (Eds.): Climate change: Addressing the Impact on Human Security, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Athens. May 2008.

Afifi, T.; Warner, K. (2008): The Impact of Environmental Degradation on Migration Flows across Countries. Working Paper No.5/2008, UNU-EHS, Bonn.

Afifi, T.; Warner, K. (2007): Assessing the Environmental Migration across Arab Countries. International Conference "An Unsettled Future? Forced Migration and Refugee Studies in the 21st Century”, University of Oxford, UK.

Afifi, T. (2007): The Applicability of the Egyptian Regional Trade Agreements in the Light of the Complex Rules of Origin. Workshop on ‘The Nexus between African Issues of Concern in EPAs and the WTO Doha Development Debates’, Nordic Africa Institute-Uppsala, Sweden, September 7-8, 2007.

Afifi, T. (2007): The Challenge of Implementing the Overlapping Regional Trade Agreements in Egypt. ISBN 978-3-86727-328-2, Cuvillier, Göttingen.

Bogardi, J.; Renaud, F.; Dun, O.; Warner, K.; Afifi, T. (2007): Environmental Migration: the Unwanted Facet of the Mobility Society. Migration and Development Conference, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, September 4-5, 2007.

Warner, K.; Afifi, T. (2007): Social Vulnerability, Substitution, and the Impacts of Natural Disasters. WIDER Conference on Fragile States – Fragile Groups, United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki, Finland, June 15-16, 2007.

Afifi, T. (2006): Institutional Reform: A Step Towards Free Trade in Egypt. International Conference on Policy Modeling -EcoMod2006, Hong Kong, June 28-30, 2006.

Afifi, T. (2006): Some Space for Success: Egypt as Part of an Eastern and Southern African Regional Trade Agreement. Ninth Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 15-17, 2006. 

Afifi, T. (2006): An Institutional Gravity Analysis of a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area from an Egyptian Perspective. Economie Méditerranée Monde Arabe (EMMA), University of Galatasaray, Istanbul, Turkey, May 26-27, 2006.

Afifi, T. (2006): Assessing the Dynamic Effects of the Egyptian Regional Trading Blocs. Scottish Economic Society Annual Conference, Perth, Scotland, UK, April 24-26, 2006.

Afifi, T. (2006): The Impact of Institutional Quality on the Trade between Arabs. 5th International Conference of the Middle East Economic Association (MEEA), Sousse, Tunisia, March 10-12, 2006.

Afifi, T. (2005): Ägypten in einer Größeren Arabischen Freihandelszone: Keine Zeit mehr für Träume. Paper presented in the 12th Annual Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO). October 27th-29th, 2005.

Afifi, T. (2005): Egypt in an Arab-African-Sandwich: Are GAFTA and COMESA to be implemented? EcoMod Network, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.

Afifi, T. (2001): The Poor in the Egyptian Labour Market During an Adjustment Period: For Better or Worse? Economic Research Forum for Arab Countries, Working Paper 01/17.