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The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question: An initial assessment of the Green Sheikh's message

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As the world embarked upon the Road to Rio (i.e., Rio de Janeiro), global attention to 'saving the world from itself', became renewed. In a bid to cut back the carbon footprints for which the Middle East is renowned, it is interesting to see that a member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) delegation also is a member of one of the ruling families. Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali al Nuaimi (aka the Green Sheikh) has been a champion for the environment. In this paper, we profile 'the man' and 'his message' in the light of how the two may be amplified and better aligned with the major investments made by the UAE towards building a sustainable hub that complements the global sustainability initiative.
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260 J. Global Business Advancement, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question:
an initial assessment of the Green Sheikh’s message
Nnamdi O. Madichie*
College of Business Administration,
University of Sharjah,
P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, UAE
E-mail: nmadichie@sharjah.ac.ae
*Corresponding author
Jerry Kolo
College of Architecture, Art & Design,
American University of Sharjah,
P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE
E-mail: jerrykplan@gmail.com
Abstract: As the world embarked upon the Road to Rio (i.e., Rio de Janeiro),
global attention to ‘saving the world from itself’, became renewed. In a bid to
cut back the carbon footprints for which the Middle East is renowned, it is
interesting to see that a member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) delegation
also is a member of one of the ruling families. Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali al
Nuaimi (aka the Green Sheikh) has been a champion for the environment. In
this paper, we profile ‘the man’ and ‘his message’ in the light of how the two
may be amplified and better aligned with the major investments made by the
UAE towards building a sustainable hub that complements the global
sustainability initiative.
Keywords: sustainability pentagon; United Arab Emirates; the Green Sheikh.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Madichie, N.O. and
Kolo, J. (2012) ‘The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question: an initial
assessment of the Green Sheikh’s message’, J. Global Business Advancement,
Vol. 5, No. 3, pp.260–268.
Biographical notes: Nnamdi O. Madichie is an Associate Professor of
Marketing at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Prior to joining the University of Sharjah in 2008–2009, he was a Senior
Lecturer and Programme Leader for both the BA (Hons) Marketing and BA
(Hons) Business Studies at the University of East London (UEL). He was also
the Project Manager of the UEL-based Black Business Research Observatory
for London, a project jointly funded by the London Development Agency and
the Mayor of London’s Office. He was external examiner at the University of
Northampton (UK) between 2007 and 2010, and is currently external examiner
at the University of Ghana Business School, as well as Visiting Research
Fellow at the UEL. He is the Editor of the African Journal of Business &
Economic Research, as well as Regional Editor (MENA) for both Management
Decision and Foresight journals in the Emerald portfolio.
The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question 261
Jerry Kolo is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and current
coordinator of the Master of Urban Planning program in the College of
Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah (AUS),
Sharjah, UAE. Prior to joining AUS in 2008–2009, he was a Professor at
Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, where he also
founded and directed an applied research centre, The Center for Urban
Redevelopment and Empowerment (CURE). His areas of teaching and research
specialisation are urban economic development, environmental planning and
sustainable community planning. He has an extensive consulting track record in
the areas of municipal economic development, university–community
partnerships and community empowerment. He earned a PhD in Urban and
Regional Planning from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada, in 1986. For his community and public service, he has earned several
awards, including the State of Florida Governor’s Public Service Award in
1994 and the Florida African–American Achiever’s Award in 1999.
This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘The road to
Rio and the UAE sustainability question: an initial assessment of the Green
Sheikh’s message’, presented at 2012 Academy of Global Business
Advancement (AGBA) held at Ajman University of Science and Technology,
UAE, 19–21 March, 2012.
1 Introduction
With mounting concerns over global warming and exploding urban populations, the race
to design and build the model ‘green city of the future’ has been on full throttle
(Madichie, 2011). Indeed only recently, the UAE was awarded headquarter status for the
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which was officially established in
Bonn (Germany) on 26 January 2009 as an intergovernmental organisation for promoting
the adoption of renewable energy worldwide. To date, 139 countries have signed
up to the Statute of the Agency – dominated by emerging markets – a collaboration
between 48 African, 37 European, 34 Asian, 15 American and 9 Pacific states (Fielding,
2010; Madichie, 2011). Indeed, the UAE’s lead role in the collaboration resulted in the
country being designated as the headquarters of IRENA.
There is hardly any more topical issue of discourse, policy, planning, research and
even advocacy today than the environment and its various dimensions. Each of the
dimensions has ardent advocates, whose motives generally revolve around influencing
public policy and citizen action. In the UAE, renowned for its egregious use of
environmental resources, a vocal and passionate environmental advocate, known as the
Green Sheikh, has emerged with a message. What precisely is the message? How does
the message resonate in the region? To what extent does it gel with other global
environmental initiatives? In this paper, we examine these questions and propose some
measures by which the message of the Green Sheikh can achieve its intended impact on
public policy and citizen action. Following this section, we try to profile the messenger,
i.e., The Green Sheikh in Section 2. Following this, we go on to analyse the message in
Section 3. In Section 4, an attempt is made to integrate the message within the framework
of the discourse, i.e., Sustainable Development (SD). Our discussion and conclusions are
presented in Section 5 and this is closely followed in Section 6 by some policy or
practical implications of our conclusions.
262 N.O. Madichie and J. Kolo
2 Background of the Green Sheikh
In his mid 40s, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi is the nephew of Highness Sheikh
Humaid bin Rashid al-Nuaimi, the Ruler of Ajman and member of supreme council of
the UAE. Famously known as the ‘Green Sheikh’, Sheikh Abdul Aziz is a member of the
ruling family of the Emirate of Ajman in the UAE. Through what we dub as his
sustainability crusade, he is taking his message of holistic living to the world, activating
his networks worldwide and inspiring people of all ages, religions and backgrounds
(see Green Prophet, 2010).
The Green Sheikh is currently environmental adviser to the Ajman Government, CEO
of Al Ihsan Charity Centre, Chairman of the International Steering Committee for the
Global Initiative Towards a Sustainable Iraq (GITSI) and Honourable President of Zayed
Environmental Impact Network (ZEIN) at Zayed University UAE. He has coordinated
the formation of environmentally and socially responsible Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) and is creating collective collaboration between public, private
and local communities, advising decision-makers, and participating in steering
committees for strategic sustainability across sectors. In all these initiatives, the Green
Sheikh advocates environmentally friendly approaches to development, guided by
Quranic teachings on tawhid (unity), khalifa (stewardship) and amana (trust).
The Green Sheikh’s educational background is in Chemical and Petroleum
Engineering, Diploma in Military Science and Master of Science in Environmental
Management. He earned his Doctorate in Cleaner Production and Industrial (Ecology)
Eco-Systems. The Green Sheikh has received numerous awards including the Sharjah
Volunteering Awards for his environment and humanitarian volunteer roles in the UAE.
This was followed by yet another award, three further years down the line, i.e., the
Islamic Personality of the Year at the 2010 Fujairah Quranic Awards. On the
international scene, the Green Sheikh seems to be a household name in the US City
of Miami where Mayor Julio Robaina of the City of Hialeah (Miami) declared
25 September, ‘Sheikh Abdul Aziz Day’.
3 The Green Sheikh’s message
Before going into a discussion of the Green Sheikh’s message, it is worth setting the
stage with a brief background of Ajman, one of the seven emirates of the UAE
Federation. Ajman Emirate is the official home of the Green Sheikh, a tiny city-state
covering an area of just 260 km2 and located along the Arabian Gulf. About 95% of the
people in Ajman (population of 360,000) live in the city. Historically, the emirate was
known for its fishing and trade industries; more recently as repository of some the UAE’s
oil reserves, and for property development.
In highlighting the message of the Green Sheikh, SD surpasses the physical realm.
According to him, it is his life’s mission to achieve all manners of excellent deeds for the
satisfaction of Allah (God). He aims for holistic living, which he describes as being
connected to the daily circle of life; balancing the spiritual, the intellectual, the physical,
the emotional, the aesthetic, the environmental and his own inner peace to help spread
peace throughout the world and in the process achieve wisdom. Indeed, to surmise his
message, the Green Sheikh used the word GREEN as an acronym, where, beyond the
literally conceived colouration,
The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question 263
“G [stands] for global, R for rethink, E for enlightenment the other E is
ethics (morals, values) N, we cannot live alone, we cannot live (as)
individuals, but we can live together as a network.” (see Maktabi, 2012).
As an example, the zero-carbon Masdar City project in the UAE reflects the first ‘G’ and
the last letter ‘N’, as it is a global initiative based on networks, whose impact was only
recently confirmed with the IRENA HQ status. However, the question now remains about
how to develop a more holistic green lifestyle in the UAE. Is there a justification for the
international/global attention drawn to the UAE as a result of Masdar? Are sceptics
convinced of any potential trickle-down effects of the alternative energy-cum-
sustainability advocacy enshrined in Masdar? Do indigenes and residents alike get the
message of sustainability? Finally, are there any theoretical grounds for the Green
Sheikh’s message? Our next section attempts to tap into the SD discourse in a bid to
evaluate the exigency of the Green Sheikh’s call to action.
4 Situating the message in the current SD discourse
Green development, like all other SD initiatives (regardless of profession, sphere of
activity or nomenclature), is about using society’s natural resources prudently to meet the
needs of current generations while saving enough resources for future generations to meet
their needs. This message is enshrined in the definition of SD, as postulated by the
Brundtland Commission (WCED, 1987, p.8, cf. Kolo, 2010, p.444). At the crux of all SD
initiatives, new and not so new, seems to be attempts to minimise or eliminate, where
possible, any negative impacts of human activities on society’s natural resource or capital
base.
What this paper surmises is that green development and most other current SD
initiatives worldwide tend to be concentrated primarily on the ‘Environment’ and,
to some extent, the ‘Economy’ principles of Brundtland Commission’s triple bottom line
(Kolo, 2010). This paper finds SD initiatives wanting on the ‘Equity’ principle owing to
problems, such as the not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) syndrome in mostly affluent
communities, spatial and racial segregation in cities, and classism and socio-economic
stratification especially in the sprawling cities of the developing world. When it comes to
locating the Green Sheikh’s message in the context of the SD literature, we argue that the
message would be more resonant and impactful, especially in a rapidly modernising
country like the UAE, if it is articulated, couched and disseminated holistically in the
context of extant conceptual SD frameworks. Two examples of such frameworks are the
TBL of the Brundtland Commission, and the sustainability pentagon proposed by Kolo
(2010). These are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. The latter is predicated and also
builds on the former, hence, we leverage Kolo’s (2010) sustainability pentagon, which
consists of five ‘E-principles’, as a promising integrative framework for configuring and
entrenching the Green Sheikh’s message in the UAE, from policy making to policy
implementation (vision to action).
The five Es of the pentagon include the classical three Es delineated by the
Brundtland Commission (i.e., Environment, Economy and Equity); and two additional Es
(Enlightenment and Engagement), which we base our current paper on. SD Pentagon is
represented by the school of thought that SD is about harmonising human activities with
environmental capacity. It suggests that regulating human behaviour and activities,
264 N.O. Madichie and J. Kolo
through enlightened and collective judgements, should be the focus of public policy,
planning and governance, and should go hand-in-hand with resource planning.
Figure 1 Sustainability triple bottom-line (see online version for colours)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development
Figure 2 Sustainability pentagon (see online version for colours)
Beyond Colours: Sustainability Pentagon
Source: Kolo (2010)
Indeed, it is our observation and contention that, the Green Sheikh’s message should be
reconfigured to address the latter ‘2Es’ in the sustainability pentagon, since we believe
that implementation of the Green Sheikh’s vision and message would be effective only if
The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question 265
community citizens are fully enlightened and aware about SD policies, options,
initiatives, costs and benefits, and if they are meaningfully engaged in the processes of
formulating and implementing SD initiatives. Citizen awareness and citizen participation
must be integral components of any SD policy that aims to be effective. Currently, the
UAE is a fast-growing and diverse country both economically and demographically.
We observe that the profile of residents in the country consists of citizens, who, for one
reason or another, are grossly unaware of, and uninvolved in policy, programmatic and
voluntary initiatives to improve and safeguard the country’s environment, which is one of
the most fragile in the world because the country is located in the desert biome and is
noted for having the highest ecological footprint in the world.
We opine that it also critical for the Green Sheikh’s message to be framed within, or
perched on the historical context and pedigree of SD. Since the release of the Brundtland
report, the groundbreaking report, Our Common Future, published in 1987 by the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), the concept and lexicon of SD
were introduced into all realms of development discourse and practice. Since then,
“sustainable development has rapidly acquired such global salience that it is
now a strategic concept at virtually every level of international and national
government where public policy is discussed.” (Bressers and Rosenbaum,
2003, p.5)
From international reports, such as the recent UN-Habitat (2009) report, themed
‘Planning Sustainable Cities’, to grassroots programmes such as those operated by
Kishkinda Trust in the remote village of Anegundi in India (Conway, 2010), SD features
prominently in discussions and programmes aimed at making the world more liveable for
current and future generations. The central message is about Cutting back on the UAE’s
carbon footprint”. This is clear from the Green Sheikh’s admission of having become a
reformed environmental criminal, hence his new mission and role as an environmental
advocate and activist (see CNN interview).
5 Discussion and conclusions
The aspiration to live within ecological limits and still improve the quality of people’s
lives is undoubtedly the cornerstone for sustainable development. This is implied in the
Brundtland Commission’s definition, which states that being mindful of the future
generation’s ability to use the world’s natural resources to meet their development needs
should not prevent the present generation from addressing its own need for growth and
development.
The UAE is an enterprising country, where the government and people are
neither shy, nor apologetic about pushing the envelope of growth and development.
The neck-breaking speed of growth happens and is possible only by using, in some
cases exploiting, society’s natural resources. Essentially, all the accolades and world
records that the UAE can boast of over its short history as a nation have been,
fundamentally, because of the use of the nation’s environmental resources, also known as
life-support systems. Technology, personnel and capital are only deployed to use these
resources. As a result, unfortunately, each of the natural resource elements is depleted,
over-burdened, in rapid decline, unaffordable for most residents, or even contaminated.
266 N.O. Madichie and J. Kolo
Taking water as an example, the United Nations reported that the Gulf region,
including the UAE, suffers the most severe water stress index in the world (i.e., when
available annual water is less than 500 m3 per capita), and that the region ran out of fresh
water since the 1970s (Nimah, 2008). For decades now, the UAE has relied on water
desalination, which is a major source of air pollution and some human ailments. The
same can be said of the other natural resource elements, namely, land, air, flora and
fauna. Put starkly, each of these elements has become a casualty or collateral damage of
the UAE’s rapid pace of growth and development.
In light of the foregoing, part of the issues that need to be addressed in the Green
Sheikh’s cause or mission is to dissect and understand the causes of the enormous and
complex environmental challenge that the UAE faces, and how the Green Sheikh’s
message can cut to the heart of the challenge. As has been posited in this paper, while
numerous inter-related causes can be identified for the UAE’s environmental challenge,
two fundamental causes are the unawareness of residents about the myriad of issues
related to the country’s environmental problems, and their non-involvement in public and
corporate environmental initiatives. Taking these two key causes, we argue that the Green
Sheikh’s message would resonate and have the effects desired by the advocate and
activist Sheikh if he strategically devises and deploys initiatives that embody or
encapsulate the ‘5Es’ of the SD pentagon.
In this regard, and based on the pentagon framework, any initiative proffered,
advocated or undertaken by the Sheikh and his adherents would pass the tests that:
the initiative helps to enhance the economic bottom line of the country (economy)
respects the health and integrity of the natural resources of the country (environment)
specifies and delineates opportunities for all bona fide stakeholders in the country to
benefit from or be benefitted by each initiative (equity)
specifies and delineates avenues, methods or processes for all bona fide stakeholders
in the country to engage or participate in environmental decision making and
planning (engagement)
specifies or delineates methods or processes by which bona fide stakeholders will
learn or be informed about each initiative (enlightenment).
6 Policy/practical implications
In order for the Sheikh’s message to resonate and lead to the changes he advocates and
desires, it is imperative that his message is weaved into a range of contingencies:
First, networking with other credible environmental advocacy groups in the region is
a must, i.e., there is a need to develop a formidable strategy of reaching out to these
groups.
Second, the Green Sheikh and his office would need to establish strategies (targeting
local, national, regional and international policy structures) that resonate within
policy-making with regulations that would help achieve the purpose and intent of his
message.
The road to Rio and the UAE sustainability question 267
Third, there is a need for the Green Sheikh’s message to be part of the extant
coherent and systematic research on sustainability. This would require, among other
steps, collaborating with environmental research institutions, especially universities,
in the region and beyond, to generate, synthesise, store and disseminate research
information about sustainability challenges in the UAE.
Fourth, and very instructive, the message should be amplified to strike the right
chord with the grassroots (i.e., a bottom-up approach from the community, civic and
neighbourhood organisations, and volunteers), through which the message can be
effectively disseminated, thereby achieving the enlightenment and engagement
principles (i.e., the 2Es) outlined in our sustainability pentagon.
Finally, there is a need for deeper ‘moral suasion’ strategies and more formalised
pragmatic approach, involving engagement with schools, colleges and universities
(both within and outside the curricula) in a multidisciplinary capacity.
Although we provide only an exploratory and theoretical insight into the sustainability
marketing campaign of an environmental convert and a member of one of the UAE’s
ruling families (i.e., the Green Sheikh), it is our hope that this would be seen as a
call to action for not only the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) but also the
entire region. Indeed, the grassroots initiative we often referred to in our five-point
agenda should complement the IRENA headquarter status conferred upon the country
recently.
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Sustainable development (SD) now features prominently in policy and scholarly discussions about growth and development at all levels of society. A heated and unsettling aspect of these discussions remains how communities, with their vast differences, can achieve the intent and ideals of SD. Of the various extant agendas and initiatives for SD implementation, one premier and fascinating initiative is what is loosely called 'green development.' In virtually all professions, there are 'green development' initiatives, defined anyhow. This paper contends that these initiatives are necessary but insufficient to achieve SD goals, especially in the developing world where the cost of green development is prohibitive. From a policy analysis stance, the paper argues that SD implementation cannot be couched in 'jargons' that may make for political grandstanding and public relations but not for SD implementation. Beyond colours, therefore, SD implementation frameworks are needed that target the root causes of unsustainable policies, attitudes and practices in different communities. In the context of policy modelling, the paper proposes a sustainability pentagon, which consists of five 'E-principles', as a promising integrative framework for SD implementation, from policy making to policy implementation (vision to action). The five Es include the classical three Es delineated by the Brundtland Commission, viz, Environment, Economy and Equity. The two additional Es of the pentagon are Enlightenment and Engagement. The paper concludes by rationalizing that, beyond colour-coding, SD implementation will be effective only if community citizens are fully enlightened about SD policies, options, initiatives, costs and benefits, and if they are engaged in the processes of formulating and implementing SD initiatives. Citizen knowledge and citizen participation must be integral components of any SD policy that aims to be effective. On these two accounts, most global and local SD initiatives are found wanting, and the way forward must shift the paradigmatic framework for SD implementation. Sustainability pentagon is an example of a promising pragmatic and culturally relevant framework.
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