CARPO Sustainability Series

Urbanism in Flux. Smart and Sustainable Cities as Spaces for Regional Cooperation in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula

by Sina Winkel and Sebastian Sons

Cities generate 75% of global CO₂ emissions from energy use, with rapid urbanization projected in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, particularly in the GCC countries. Urbanization poses challenges like housing shortages, congestion, pollution and inefficient public transport. In response, GCC countries are developing smart cities, such as Saudi Arabia’s NEOM and the UAE’s Masdar City, aiming for high quality of life and economic growth. However, these projects face issues like social inequalities, infrastructure deficits and environmental impacts. Despite technological advances, obstacles to sustainable development persist. The authors of this CARPO Report argue that regional cooperation is crucial to addressing these challenges and fostering sustainable urban growth through initiatives that emphasize cultural heritage, environmental education and community engagement, promoting socio-economic and environmental resilience.

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The ‘Climate-Energy-Health Nexus’

An Entry-Point for Environmental Cooperation in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula

by Sina Winkel and Sebastian Sons

Based on insights obtained through the Tafahum wa Tabadul project, the authors discuss how recent geopolitical dynamics in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula may pave the way towards cross-border environmental engagement on an inclusive political, academic, societal and entrepreneurial level. The ‘climate-energy-health nexus’ is introduced as a potential thematic entry-point for cooperation, as it addresses manifold shared interests and challenges in the region. Winkel and Sons warn, however, that challenges such as the lack of coordination, data gaps and political mistrust remain and will take time to overcome. In order to be able to do so, this Brief presents a number of recommendations to regional and international stakeholders.

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Energy Injustice and Its Role for Environmental Peacebuilding

Ahmad Al-Wadaey, Tobias Zumbrägel and Ali Alamudi

This Report discusses the crucial but understudied impact of oil extraction industries on local communities and the environment in Yemen’s Hadhramawt governorate. By combining conceptual approaches of energy justice and the environmental peacebuilding literature, it provides a novel perspective on how environmental pollution via the oil industry in Yemen creates injustices and grievances and might hamper sustainable peace efforts. Using a mixed method approach of both quantitative and qualitative analyses, the empirical assessment in two districts of Hadhramawt governorate, Tarim and Sah, confirms assumptions about widespread and severe oil pollution negatively impacting the local population. Based on a household survey and additional expert interviews, it further describes potential avenues for remediation that offer recommendations for concrete action on environmental peacebuilding strategies.

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The Role of the Environment in Peacebuilding in Yemen

by Bilkis Zabara and Tobias Zumbrägel

This Report addresses the relationship between violent conflict and environmental governance in Yemen. It translates the concept of environmental peacebuilding to the case of Yemen, where it has not received broader attention in terms of post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. The study compares six different governorates, namely Sana’a, Dhamar, Ibb, Ta‘iz, Aden and Hadhramawt and finds that all governorates face specific threats. If these challenges are not addressed adequately and in a sustainable manner, they can accelerate social conflict and ultimately threaten long-term solutions for peace and stability in the country. To promote the concept of environmental peacebuilding, the Report provides several suggestions for concrete action by international actors working on Yemen.

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The Disaster of Yemen’s Flash Floods. Impact of and Local Responses to the Torrential Rains and Flooding in 2020

by Khalid al-Akwa and Tobias Zumbrägel

Between March and September 2020, and again in May through July 2021, Yemen experienced periods of torrential rain that resulted in flash flooding. Flash floods are and will continue to be a recurrent natural phenomenon with destructive consequences in Yemen, which has not yet received broader attention. This Brief thus provides an overall understanding of the social and economic impact and current management of Yemen’s flash floods to improve disaster prevention and mitigation. It stresses the urgency of creating an independent environmental advisory body, comprised of a range of stakeholders and experts, to coordinate environmental reconstruction work and enhance tangible climate action into future strategies and interventions of national governance management and international humanitarian assistance.

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Post COVID-19: A Potential for Green Recovery in the Arab Gulf States

by Aisha Al-Sarihi

The novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the GCC’s focus on environmental sustainability projects, as shoring up economies and protecting human health have become top priorities for governmental countermeasures. This Brief argues that associating COVID-19 economic recovery packages with measures aimed to safeguard the environment and tackle climate change, towards a so-called ‘green recovery’, will not only ensure long-term resilience and sustainability of economies as countries recover from the pandemic, but also boost economic activity, generate income and create jobs.

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The Looming Climate Peril. Sustainable Strategies and Environmental Activism in the Middle East and North Africa

by Tobias Zumbrägel

Taking the viewpoint of ‘political ecology’, this first issue of the newly created CARPO Sustainability Series highlights the social and political implications of sustainable transformation across the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Overall, it aims to achieve four goals: (a) to provide a comprehensive overview of existing research and avenues of thought; (b) to supply a cross-sectoral analysis across the MENA region, rather than in-depth single case studies; (c) to uncover broader implications and dialectic relationships between sustainability and political power constellations; and (d) to sketch out some potential future developments and dynamics over the coming years.

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