Sustainable development in the Arab world

What is it about?

Papers in this special issue have highlighted how the GCC region has a special context in the wider Arab region in terms of being historically reluctant to effectively engage with the global sustainability agenda advocated by developed countries (Al-Saidi, Zaidan, and Hammad 2019). This is despite the openness of the region to adopt westernised concepts and embrace state-of-the-art technologies and design concepts (Al-Zo’by 2019; Zaidan 2019). This apparent paradox is explained by the cau- tious approach of GCC countries towards sustainability in order to protect their carbon-based econ- omies. The preferred path GCC countries are following is to learn from international best practices in order to address more pressing issues, such as the resilience of coastal areas, resource provision through clean technologies such as reuse and renewables options, addressing environmental risks to their coastal cities, or improving the sustainability engagement of local stakeholders (Abulibdeh, Al-Awadhi, and Al-Barwani 2019; Abulibdeh, Zaidan, and Al-Saidi 2019; Al-Awadhi, Charabi, and Choudri 2019; Al-Saidi and Lahham 2019; Hayman 2019). In contrast, other regions in the Arab world might not have the luxury of monetary revenues to selectively and gradually embrace sustain- ability. For example, due to rising demand and limited energy sources, Morocco has set a renewables target of more than 50% by 2030, far more ambitious than any GCC country. Furthermore, for countries such as Lebanon, the provision of sufficient food and basic education for growing popu- lations, including huge numbers of refugees, is a real challenge that spurs projects using innovations such as urban agriculture (Albakri and Shibly 2019; Dehnavi and Suß 2019). In contrast, access to food, energy, and water, alongside other comforts such as public jobs and good salaries, have been a pre- rogative of GCC citizens. In the GCC, sustainability is increasingly being perceived as a policy impera- tive of the twenty-first century, but also as a beneficial tool to sustain the basic functioning of a growing economy within healthy environmental boundaries. Furthermore, it represents a vehicle for states to gain legitimacy on the international scene in terms of being responsible towards the global community and caring about shared norms and challenges.

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Why is it important?

It is about transition to sustainability in the understudied Arab World, particularly Gulf countries.

Perspectives