Why Sustainability Research Is Essential In The Middle East :
Two keywords make up the point of this article: sustainability and research. With the state of our world today, people are beginning to recognize the importance of maintaining sustainable practices.
For the Middle East region, the rapid development and increase in technological production have revealed the need for sustainability. The region has been taking positive steps in a bid to adopt and ensure sustainability. However, ensuring that these sustainable practices are maintained requires in-depth research. In addition, doing this research also has to uphold the standards of sustainable culture.
What is Sustainability in Research?
Sustainability research is best described as the study to develop models, indicators and best sustainable practices. In essence, because sustainability means different things to different people, sustainable research aims to create the best structures that work for everyone.
Benefits of sustainability research
Sustainability, on its own, is the development that aims to satisfy the needs of the present generation while ensuring that the ability to satisfy the needs of future generations remain uncompromised.
Thus, the importance of sustainable research is to safely navigate the unsustainable world as we know it now to one that is more sustainable.
Furthermore, climate change is one primary concern regarding the environment. The world’s population is rising, and the resources needed to sustain the rising population are diminishing. Sustainability research is necessary to balance and address this growing need adequately.
Why the Middle East needs Sustainability Research
Today, there are various forms of sustainable practices. Sustainability is essential in the environment, economy, social structures, etc.
For countries in the Middle East, adopting research in sustainability approach is essential. The reasons why include the following:
1. Policymaking: Government policies and regulations are essential to creating an effective system that benefits the entire region. As we mentioned earlier, people’s views about sustainability vary. Therefore, sustainability research is vital to achieving a holistic approach to answering citizens’ sustainable needs. Such research helps Middle Eastern governments better understand society’s needs and create policies that align with such.
2. Ability to meet specific goals: One prevailing characteristic of MENA countries is their meaningful goals. For instance, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar aim to achieve by the year 2030, 30, 15 and 20 per cent, respectively, from renewable sources for power generation. These goals would be hard to accomplish without proper sustainability research to facilitate them. In this case, research helps by providing use cases, projections and feasibility of the goals.
3. Maximizing its renewable energy sources: The Middle East is a region that is blessed with abundant access to renewable energy sources. Solar and wind are some of the two sources that can be used to build a sustainable environment. Access to these renewable resources might not be fully utilized if the appropriate sustainability research is missing. Research into how these renewable sources can be used is essential to maximizing the same.
Looking forward
Over the last few years, MENA countries have shown great dedication to upholding sustainable practices. With continuous sustainability research and increased implementation of its results, the Middle East can achieve its goal of being a sustainable region