AFED's Report on the State of Arab Environment 2008:

Water, Desertification, Air and Marine Pollution are the Main Challenges

"A Lot has Been Achieved, but Much More is Still Needed"

Manama, 26/10/2008

A critical situation faces the Arab environment, warns a new report revealed today by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED), at the opening of its annual conference in Manama, Bahrain. Requesting urgent action to tackle four main issues: fresh water scarcity, desertification, air quality and marine pollution, the report entitled Arab Environment: Future Challenges, alerts that these problems will intensify due to climate change.

The conference inauguration was attended by more than 350 AFED members, Arab ministers, heads of international and regional organizations, NGOs, and CEOs. The report editors, Dr. Mostafa K. Tolba and Najib Saab, presented its main conclusions, with 16 experts who participated in preparing the report.

Observing that some parts of the region have seen unprecedented growth, bringing both economic and social prosperity to millions of Arabs during the last few decades, thanks, largely, to the rising income from oil, the report asks: "Has this economic development come at a cost? Can the patterns of development which some Arab countries are experiencing continue, while sustaining livelihood and quality of life for future generations?" The editors cast doubts.

This report, the first of its kind to be compiled and authored by independent experts from across the Arab region, offers an overview of the state of the environment in the Arab world, highlighting environmental challenges, social, political, and demographic trends, progress in regional and sub-regional cooperation, and recommendations for future action.

Climate change, high population growth rates, and in some countries, rapid economic growth and urbanization, all amplify the region's vulnerability to environmental challenges and constrain its ability to manage them. In the Arab region as a whole, the cost of environmental degradation is estimated at five percent of GDP.

At the same time, the report observes, governments of the region have failed in addressing these mounting economic costs with clear and effective policies. The budgetary allocations for environmental purposes do not even come close to one percent of GDP for any of the countries in the region. Moreover, the environmental agencies that do exist have not been granted any real support or powerful legislative mandates, limiting their ability to be effective.

It is clear from this report that environmental issues need to be urgently recognized as deserving political and economic priority, on par with other major macroeconomic issues. This has to be tackled through a two-pronged approach: firstly, holistic, integrated, clear, and effective legislation needs to be created, and secondly, it needs to be ensured that environmental agencies are endowed with both the resources and the political mandates to achieve the necessary progress.

Governments of the region need to support research and development efforts, according to the report. The private sector should also take more serious initiatives to integrate environmental considerations into its planning.. None of this would work without grassroots support, which cannot be achieved in the absence of a real effort on the part of the media and civil society, especially non- governmental organizations, to raise awareness.

Water and Land

The report alerts that the Arab region faces a critical water situation. With the exception of Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, all the Arab countries are projected to experience severe water stress by the year 2025. Projected global warming has the potential to add increasing pressure on already dwindling water supplies.

Cautioning that water use efficiency does not exceed 50%, the report calls for policies and programmes to stop wasteful exploitation of water in agricultural, industrial and domestic domains.

While calling to secure enough water for food production and human and industrial needs, the report cautions against the mushrooming of golf courses, which will double in few years to 40 in GCC countries. It points out that each golf course in these arid countries consumes about 1.3 million cubic metres annually, enough to cover the water consumption needs of 15,000 inhabitants.

The report recognizes desertification as posing the most pressing threat to productive lands in the whole Arab region, but the response has so far been insufficient.

Pesticides and fertilizers are widely used in the Arab region, and in many cases, misused. Several Arab countries use some of the highest quantities of fertilizers per hectare in the world. The heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers brings about concerns regarding food safety as a public health issue. What is lacking in most of the Arab region is regulation and control over the sale, handling, and use of pesticides

Climate Change

The report mentions that although the Arab region does not contribute more than 5% to the causes of global climate change, its effects on the region will be very severe.

Sea level rise (SLR) due to rising temperatures has the potential to cause the loss of significant portions of agricultural land in the Arab region. Even a 1m SLR could potentially cause the loss of 12% to 15% of agricultural land in the Nile Delta region, and could reduce Qatar's land area by 2.6%. Higher temperatures will also increase the incidence and impact of drought in the region, threatening water resources and productive land. As this report shows, drought frequency has already increased in Algeria, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia. Recent droughts in Jordan and Syria were the worst recorded in many decades.

The report recognizes an alarming deficiency in scientific and technological capabilities, as well as the political will to address problems posed by climate change in the Arab region.

Air Quality

As the air quality in Arab cities continues to steadily deteriorate, the costs of health and environmental consequences are drastically rising. Health problems attributed to air pollution from the transport sector alone cost Arab countries over five billion dollars annually. Per capita carbon oxides emissions have risen steadily in most countries of the region in the last three decades. Some Gulf countries emit up to 10 times the global average. Monitoring results in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria recorded pollution levels between six to eight times higher than accepted limits.

The report recommends for market-distorting subsidies to be phased out, thermal efficiency to be improved through technological advancement, hydropower resources to be fully utilized, renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind, to be widely used, and less polluting fuels, such as natural gas, to be increasingly utilized. More sensible urban planning should be implemented to reduce traffic jams, in addition to promoting public transportation and cleaner production in industry.

Marine and Coastal Environment

The fragile marine and coastal environment of the Arab region, which stretches over 30,000 kilometers of which 18,000 kilometers are populated, is threatened by pollution, over-fishing, loss of biodiversity, climate change, and other problems.

Alongside oil pollution from tankers, the report remarks that uncontrolled tourism and extensive urban development are the main contributors to the environmental degradation of coastal and marine environments.

Waste Management

The Arab region produces some 300,000 tons of solid waste every day, with most of it ending untreated in makeshift dumps. Less than 20% is properly treated or disposed of in landfills, and no more than 5% is recycled. The per capita production of municipal solid waste in some Arab cities, such as Kuwait, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi, is over 1.5 kg per day, making it one of the highest levels in the world. However, the report recognizes a number of promising initiatives in waste management that are being undertaken in the Arab region, such as legislative initiatives in the GCC, Egypt, and Oman, as well as investments in facilities that can separate and handle hazardous wastes, and an increased private sector investment in recycling industries, especially in Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Environmental Research, Education and Legislation

According to the report, effective environmental scientific research stands at the very basis of combating environmental degradation. However, the rate of expenditure on scientific research as a percentage of GDP is abysmally low in the Arab region, at around 0.2%. The world average is 1.4%, with the rate being 4% in Japan.. The report recommends that regional scientific databases be created and strengthened.

Where they exist, educational environmental programmes are still in their infancy, and many disciplines are lacking, such as environmental legislation and management, as well as the integration of environment into development plans, programmes, and projects. The report traced 100 Arabic periodicals and newsletters with environmental titles. However, the subject is seldom dealt with in depth, and critical analysis and expert insights are rarely provided.

The general weakness of environmental legislation in the Arab region compounds the above problems, the report points out.  In addition, there is a general lack of involvement by Arab countries in the drafting of international environmental treaties.

The report recommends that the current system of national accounts needs to be modified so that the depletion and degradation of national environmental resources are reflected as costs instead of income. Moreover, a larger proportion of the budget needs to be dedicated to strengthening the capacities of environmental authorities, and the funding of environmentally sustainable projects should come to rely less on external funding, as aid flow is dependent on geopolitical circumstances.

Stating the impact of wars and conflicts on the environment, the report proposes that an Arab fund be launched to help countries deal with the environmental root causes of conflict, and also to address the most immediate impacts of war. In addition, more regional and international cooperation is recommended in order to provide early warning and assessment capacity of the linkages between conflict and the environment, specifically in areas which have not received enough attention like the impact of depleted uranium (DU) warheads and mines.

In a concluding statement, the report says that "the situation is not entirely bleak. Most Arab countries now have either a Ministry of Environment, a state Environment Agency or both. The civil society and the private sector are getting more involved in environmental matters, though with varied levels of effectiveness. Some government bodies responsible for the environment have moved into strategic planning."

"The Arab region's fate is inextricably tied to the state of its environment," the report adds. "This demands that Arab countries work jointly to face mutual challenges and cooperate as one front in global environmental initiatives. A lot has been achieved in the Arab region when it comes to environmental awareness and initiatives, but much more is still needed."