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The Role of NGOs in Tackling Environmental Issues

By August 1, 2019 December 3rd, 2020 No Comments

Many countries in the region are facing the profound environmental, social, and economic impacts of rapid population growth, development, and natural resource constraints.
Having a strong NGO community with a clear mandate to engage civil society, businesses, and the public sector can help countries to tackle these issues more successfully.

Environmental NGOs can play a crucial role in helping to plug gaps by conducting research to facilitate policy development, building institutional capacity, and facilitating independent dialogue with civil society to help people live more sustainable lifestyles. While some of the barriers are beginning to be lifted, there are still many areas which require further reform and support in order to assist NGOs, such as EWS-WWF, to conduct their work. These areas include: the need for a legal framework to recognize NGOs and enable them to access more diverse funding sources; high-level support/endorsement from local figureheads; and engaging NGOs in policy development and implementation.

Natural Resource Constraints are Leading to Environmental, Social, and Economic Impacts

The Living Planet Report 2010 (LPR) outlined that the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait were three of the top ten ranked countries in the world in terms of their Ecological Footprint per capita. This means that if every person in the world lived and consumed natural resources such as food, fiber, energy, and timber at the same rate as an average resident from the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, then you would need six planet earths to sustain that level of consumption, which is four times the world average. This is clearly unsustainable.

There are many reasons for this:

  • The Gulf states are experiencing rapid growth and development, which is resource intensive, especially as desert conditions lead to higher than average consumption of energy to cool buildings and desalinate water.
  • Due to a lack of resources (apart from hydrocarbons), Gulf states also need to access resources from outside their own borders.
  • Low levels of public awareness on how to maintain more sustainable lifestyles.Having such high natural resource consumption patterns has profound environmental, social, and economic impacts. Countries in the Middle East could face temperature rises of over 3oC by the end of the century, a changing climate, and associated repercussions on water resources, food, coastal cities, infrastructure, human health, and wildlife. The UAE’s commercial fish stocks declined by 80% from 1978–2002 due to overfishing. Many countries in the region are also facing a situation where demand for power and water is beginning to exceed supply. Left unchecked, climate change, collapsing fisheries, and power shortages will not only affect economic growth and development, but also threaten social stability, business viability, and the well-being of society.

    There is a Need for NGO Actors

    While governments and businesses are beginning to take action on some of these issues, there are many gaps. The government’s role in these countries is changing from “Do it all, nearly everything” organizations, to more streamlined and regulation-focused institutions. Hence, they need partners to help implement policies and participate in the development of the country. In the UAE, there has been increased recognition by the government of the need for additional actors/partners. Indeed, it was actually at the request of the government that the WWF was asked to open an office in the UAE in 2001.

    There is now also an increasing interest within civil society in environmental issues. This interest is leading to a need for more independent research, communication, and grassroots outreach. NGOs can play a very significant role in leading and promoting such initiatives. Moreover, the ability of NGOs to provide an independent view is crucial to building trust in the issues/causes and help enact behavioral/cultural change in communities.

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    Written by Razan Al Mubarak, Tanzeed Alam
    Image: Flickr/Sparkjet/MEI
    Publication date: April 26, 2012 (originally in April 2011)


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