Awareness Documentary Distributed by EAD
DVD copies of a documentary on Arab environment were presented to all participants in the Abu Dhabi launching of AFED’s report “Arab Environment: Future Challenges”. The copies were provided with the support of Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, which will distribute the documentary among schools and other institutions to boost public awareness.
The documentary tracks changes in the region’s environment over a century, as witnessed by a prominent environmental leader, Dr. Mohamed Kassas. Born in 1921in Borg El-Burullus, an Egyptian village located at the tip of the Nile Delta. Kassas, a world renowned environmental figure, graduated from Cambridge University in 1950 with a PhD in planticology. A prominent authority on desert environment, he has held senior positions including the presidency of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The 24-minute documentary starts from Kassas birthplace, Burg El-Burullus, which is expected to be one of the first locations in the region to drown as a result of rising seas due to climate change. Through the life experience of Kassas, key issues facing the Arab countries are covered, such as population, urbanization, natural resources, water, marine environment, industrialization and air quality, waste and scientific research. Kassas acts as narrator, while Najib Saab, AFED’s secretary general, introduces the subjects infacts and figures assisted by power-point presentation.
State of the environment
According to Saab, Arab countries lose 5% of their GDP due to environmental degradation, which means that they are in a state of bankruptcy, as loss exceeds growth rates. 100 million Arab citizens live in poverty and lack basic needs and services. 65 millions among them are illiterate. And all try to share diminishing resources. 15 out of the 22 Arab countries are below water poverty line.
On the other hand, Saab points out that “millions of Arabs could achieve remarkable economic and social development during the last decades, mainly due to the increasing income from oil” and goes on to ask “What was the cost, and could the present pace of development be sustained?”
He then introduces Mohamed Kassas, saying that “when he was born 87 years ago, population of the Arab world was less than 50 million. Today Arabs are about 350 million, most of them live in urban areas which lack essential services. Could we preserve and develop our resources to guarantee decent life standards for those ever increasing millions?”
Kassas starts with memories about his village: “One of the places that may be covered with water at an early stage is Borg El-Burullus. I was born in this place, which is located at the tip of the Egyptian Nile Delta. Many people live there and they fish in the lake and the sea. The lake is separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. The area is exposed to erosion, as a result of building dams on the Nile River which stopped sedimentation. Sea waves and wind erode the sediments of this region and move them to the sea, and barriers are being built to obtain direct effects of this threat. In the future, with climate change, this region needs different types of measures to be protected from drowning. Otherwise we will need to relocate the population. This by itself is a big problem.”
Saab charts the problem of air pollution: “Air quality in Arab cities continues to deteriorate. Health losses attributed to air pollution from the transport sector alone are over 5 billion dollars annually. Emissions from industry in Egypt surpass in certain cases twenty times the acceptable international limits. Air pollution levels in most Arab cities are many folds higher than acceptable rates.”
Kassas goes on to trace major challenges: “It is true that some of the Arab oil-producing countries have been experiencing an increase in wealth and resources, but the rates of consumption have increased several folds more. This is a serious problem facing the people of the region, mainly regarding population distribution and resources consumption. Arab countries are mainly located in a dry region with little rain, except limited areas in Morocco, Tunisia, South Sudan, and the Levant. Most countries have a dry or extremely dry desert climate. The second point is the fact that the origins of the large rivers in Arab countries are outside their borders. This puts Arab countries at a weak, vulnerable and threatened position. The third point is that there are very large desalination plants in the Arab countries, producing 60% of the world’s desalinized water. We need more water produced at a lower cost to make it economical for agriculture and food production. This requires the development of new technologies. We also should improve the efficiency of water management and irrigation methods.”
Saab highlights the issue of urbanization: “Today 75% of Arabs live in cities, up from less than 20% 80 years ago.
Infrastructure and environmental services had been lagging behind the rapid pace of development and urbanization.” Kassas complements: “The influx into cities has led to the construction of high-rise buildings, ad-hoc industries, over crowdedness of people and cars, and air pollution. In many Arab cities there are slum areas and poverty belts, as is the case in Cairo. By building high-rise blocks, we forgot about the great and beautiful Arabic architecture of Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, and the Oasis. We call for restudying the old Arabic architecture because it was more suitable for the environment than the new models applied.”
Marine pollution and coastal development pose major challenge, according to Saab: “From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, the red Sea and the Gulf, 18,000 kilometres of populated Arab land lies along coasts, most of it polluted and degraded by uncontrolled urban development, let alone pollution caused by wars and conflicts.” Kassas adds: Arab countries and their neighbors signed agreements to protect the sea. The first agreement was signed in Barcelona, Spain in 1976. Now, after all this time, we don’t find that the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and the Gulf are cleaner or environmentally better. This means that there is weakness in the enforcement of the agreements”.
The documentary reveals that Arabs produce some 300,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily, most of which ends in makeshift dumps. Only 20% is properly treated, and less than 5% is recycled. Reducing waste in industry requires promoting cleaner production technologies. Kassas calls for the promotion of ‘cleaner technology’, to reduce, reuse and recycle waste.
On the subject of climate change, Saab says that while “contribution of Arab countries to the causes of global climate change might not count for more than 3%, the impact on the region will be disastrous.” Kassas stresses the need to identify which areas are most threatened, and asks what has been done for mitigation and adaptation.
Saab argues that Arab contribution to scientific research is less than 0.2% of GDP, compared to 2 to 4% in other regions. Kassas agrees, calling on Arab countries to promote programs for resource management, sustainable development and research.
The documentary can be downloaded from: www.afedonline.org
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