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arab environment: survival options
in material intensity, which in turn is defined as the quantity of consumed material (e.g. ton of oil equivalent in the case of energy) per unit of economic output (e.g. dollars). This definition furnishes the criteria for meeting sustainable development goals, and spells out the size of our task. It even lets us monitor how close or distant we are from our target. Dematerialization is not a new concept. A part of the evolution of our economic logic has always been to become more efficient, to use less energy and materials to produce more goods and services. Neither is this concept new to sustainable development. Historically, each new generation of technologies has almost always been more efficient and less material intensive than the last. But if technology as such is good to the environment, how is it that the changes brought about have been detrimental overall? Technology by itself is not bad. The trouble is that it has always done a lot more for the growth side of the equation than for the dematerialization side. A new kind of development is therefore needed because it is essential to relate development to the limitations and opportunities created by the natural resource base. An alternative model of development is required because past patterns of development in both developed and developing countries have been characterized by serious environmental damage. This is very true for the case of development in the Arab region.
Arab Regional Cooperation Sustainable Development
to
Achieve
The Arab world faces major shortages in natural resources, particularly arable land and water, and suffers from pollution of air, water, and soil. No development can be achieved without the rational use of these resources in agriculture, industry, and human settlements. Arab countries also face two major problems: fast growing populations driven in large part in some countries by labor migration, and wasteful over-consumption by the rich. As the GFN-AFED study on the Ecological Footprint in the Arab countries demonstrates, with the exception of Mauritania and Sudan, who are creditor countries, all Arab countries have a debtor status; that is, they use much more of the Earth’s biocapacity than is available to them. Arab countries, in general, have low levels of biocapacity and consume much more than what is locally available by importing significantly from other countries. Regional cooperation can help reduce the Ecological Footprint of Arab countries. Arab countries are endowed with resources that are complementary, which can be harnessed through trade and regional integration to satisfy their needs and reduce ecological deficits. Some examples are provided. 1- Food self-sufficiency in Arab countries has been debated for decades, but has gained more steam following the 2007-2008 global rise in food prices. It has always been suggested that countries endowed with