Mohamed A. Abdrabo obtained his PhD degree from the University of Liverpool, UK; and currently is Professor of Environmental Economics, Institute of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Alexandria. He is Director of an IDRC-sponsored project for the establishment of a center of excellence for adaptation to climate change (Alexandria Research Centre for Adaptation) at University of Alexandria. He was a consultant to a number of environment-related research projects in a number of countries in the region. His research work in the fields of environmental and urban economics.

The Arab region has experienced significant rates of urbanization during the past few decades. On one hand, urbanization can have significant positive economic benefits including, higher levels of diverse services provision, higher income levels and improved socioeconomic and demographic conditions. Urbanization can also have negative consequences including, informal area expansion, higher poverty prevalence and higher levels of pollution. It could be argued that without proper management of urbanization, its negative consequences could exceed its positive ones.