Youth Ambassador Think Tank: Sustainability - What Does It Mean for the Middle East?
17 Sep 2009 in Education, Employment, Housing and Credit, Civic Participation
MEYI’s Youth Ambassador Think Tank is a forum to encourage active discussion on topics of timely relevance to Middle Eastern youth. Our sixth topic solicits perspectives on how sustainable development can be effectively pursued in the Middle East.
The Think Tank shares brief perspectives from MEYI's Youth Ambassadors on a current issue or topic relevant to MEYI's research. The primary goal is to stimulate an exchange of ideas between youth in the region and the wider public, and for emerging research concepts to be defined and evaluated by youth – the very population whose lives this research hopes to impact. Youth Ambassadors will provide initial responses to the topic, which will rotate on a regular basis.
We encourage you to visit our facebook discussion board to participate in the discussion, or to submit your comments through the "Write to the Editor" form below.
THINK TANK DISCUSSION #6: SUSTAINABILITY – WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE MIDDLE EAST?
The theme of International Youth Day this year was “SUSTAINABILITY: Our Challenge. Our Future.” In this vein, we ask: what does “sustainability” or “sustainable development” mean to you? In the Middle East, how can human behavior or practice become more sustainable? Is there a specific area where you would like to see improvement? What changes are necessary for that improved behavior or practice to become a reality?
JOULAN ABDULKHALEK (Beirut, Lebanon):
"The concept of sustainability is totally foreign to the people and the governments of the Middle East. Recently, some countries in the Gulf region have been using sovereign wealth funds and corporate social responsibility initiatives to invest in sustainable projects such as MASDAR in Abu Dhabi, the Dubai based Middle East Center for Sustainable Development, and many other ad-hoc programs run by private companies. However, regardless of these high-end projects, the natural socioeconomic dialogue that emerged in advanced countries on the importance of sustainable development – and which led to the Brundtland Commission report – is absent in Middle Eastern societies. This reality should by no means deter the empowerment of the concept of sustainability in the Middle East. However, to be pragmatic in our approach, we must admit that actualizing sustainable development will only suceed if it has widespread social support. The concepts of sustainability are not about hugging trees and saving whales (with all due respect to that). By elevating the discourse of sustainable development from the ground up, citizens in developing countries can actively engineer their own way toward prosperity. But, in addition to grass-roots support, sustainable development requires planning, a process which needs to be better engrained in institutions throughout the Middle East and which must draw from the free and active participation of the region’s citizens."
ABDULLAH AL-THAWR (Sana'a, Yemen):
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"Sustainability has sometimes referred only to the environmental issues surrounding development, particularly in richer countries, considering that environmental sustainability is crucial for a continuous supply of natural resources. In modern sustainability strategies, the definition of sustainability has expanded to includes social (skills, knowledge and health) and economic (investments and financial capital) indicators. However, the Middle East in general, and Yemen specifically, have struggled to fulfill these three key features of sustainable development. This leads local citizens to believe that governments have adopted the informal policy of “think about today, and tomorrow will be figured out when it comes,” despite the many strategies listed in the government agendas.
"The main obstacles to achieving the social and economic aspects of sustainability in Yemen are corruption and the weaknesses of Yemen’s education system. As long as there are no strong moves to curb corruption, all efforts toward economically sustainable development are useless, as the capital of development projects leaks through a hidden, yet sensed, gap. Despite the government’s creation of an anticorruption authority in 2006, Yemen’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International has declined over the past three successive years (while it was 111th in 2006, it ranked 131st in 2007 and dropped to 141st in 2008). In addressing the social aspect of sustainable development, it is argued that education in the Middle East should be a way for students to acquire effective knowledge and awareness rather than simply certificates and degrees. Including innovative methods of teaching that provoke awareness and critical thinking will result in a generation that fully understands the needs and roles of each person in relation to sustainable development on a local and national level. At the same time, a reformed education system would inspire positive awareness and thinking among young people who currently lack guidance and may be prone to deviate to extremism and terrorism which threatens Yemen’s political stability and, hence, its development progress."
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