Christopher Ward is Honorary Research Fellow, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK. He was formerly with the World Bank for twenty-four years, working largely in the field of natural resource management and rural development in the Middle East and Africa. He has lived in Yemen, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, as well as Kenya, Madagascar and the USA. He is currently a consultant to a number of international organizations, including the World Bank, DfID, the FAO, GTZ, and KfW.