Environmental degradation will affect livelihoods and health, and increase vulnerability to natural disasters, with the potential to stall or reverse the human development progress Qatar has worked hard to achieve. But, with a development pattern that depends (at least in its initial stages) mainly on oil, gas, and petrochemicals, Qatar, even with its best efforts, will not be able to entirely avoid adverse effects on the environment. QNV 2030’s environmental pillar is, therefore, increasingly important as Qatar deals with local environmental issues such as pollution, diminishing water and hydrocarbon resources, loss of biodiversity and environmental degradation, as well as international environmental issues such as the effects of climate change. Tese environmental concerns are a product of three factors: rapid population growth, increased consumption and production patterns, and technological change, especially in agriculture and energy use. Qatar has the financial resources and capability to resist and reverse
many of the negative consequences from such stresses, provided timely, constructive interventions are carried out. While the unfavourable effects have to be identified and addressed, the positive and constructive contributions have to be strengthened. Finding the right balance between the two necessitates difficult policy choices with important political, regulatory, institutional and capacity implications. While Qatar is undergoing an infrastructure and real estate construction
boom, the developments are being strictly monitored and controlled; many meet international green building standards as a minimum standard. In many countries, responsibility for sustainable development issues lies with environmental ministries and departments, which often tend to be under-resourced and not influential enough in government, hindering the necessary process of cross-sectoral policy integration. Qatar has avoided this pitfall, with the report suggesting the environment should not be dealt with as a standalone sector. Environmental issues, including longer-term and global perspectives, need to be integrated into mainstream planning processes. Qatar’s long-term sustainable development objectives are embodied in the QNV 2030. Its goals will begin to materialise through Qatar’s first National Development Strategy, 2010-2015. “Being able to pay for best possible solutions and for responses to ‘solve’
problems in the short-term is not the same as investing in optimal and sustainable policies that provide a coherent, strategic long-term vision in line with the QNV 2030,” the report states. Te real estate sector in Qatar clearly has a responsibility to foster the sustainable aims of wider society. But promotion of energy efficiency practices and renewable energy obligations is ineffectual, if not supported by a national policy regulating energy use and promoting investments in new technology. Te real estate sector should work hand in hand with the public sector to enable best possible practice l
MAY 2012 I CITYSCAPE I 41
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