A group of researchers at King Abdullah University of Sciences and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia have discovered three herbal plants which can be used to combat cancer. These plants carrying cytotoxic (harmful/destructive to living cells) potential, have traditionally been used against a host of diseases.

In an effort to devise inexpensive treatment options against cancer, a group of scientists led by Dr. Timothy Ravasi and Dr. Christian Voolstra set out to study a local plant derived agent that has the property to hamper cell growth. Timothy Ravasi – a professor of Bioscience at KAUST – has a Ph.D from the University of Milan in Italy. Ravasi who specializes in systems biology is also working with Christian Voolstra on discovering new bioactive compounds from Red Sea marine animals.

PhD student from KAUST studying anticancer potential of native plant species

The researchers discovered that a chemical compound found in plant extracts has the ability to inhibit the activity of (topoisomerase) enzymes that play a vital role in cell division. Enzymes are biological agents that accelerate chemical reactions. In order for a cell to divide and produce copies of itself the cell undergoes a process called DNA replication. The topoisomerase enzymes participate in a process that facilities the replication cycle (they correct topological problems caused by the double stranded DNA structure). Inhibitors of this enzyme are the most widely used anticancer drugs.

The researchers narrowed down their search to three plants after investigating around 52 plants for their biological properties. They used plant extracts to demonstrate that the said plants contain substances capable of acting as topoisomerase inhibitors thereby stalling uncontrolled cell growth.

This discovery builds upon a series of research in a branch of science called Natural Products Chemistry that involves the use of naturally occurring chemical compounds having therapeutic capabilities for producing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry.

This initial research although a step in the right direction is fraught with challenges. The development of new drugs derived from naturally occurring compounds is a complex and expensive process. In the Muslim World, there is an old and established practice of traditional medicine but it has been challenge to bring this traditional knowledge to the 21^st Century.

There are several research centers in Natural Products Chemistry the most notable – HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry which has the additional title of being the International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences – has been active in the Natural Products Chemistry for many decades is seeking to develop the capacity to convert this science into pharmaceutical drugs after appropriate animal and himan testing.

While this discovery is a step in the right direction, the Muslim world has a long way to go to fully capitalize on these discoveries and need to make more focused efforts – and expend more resources – to indigenize the drug development cycle.

DAMMAM — The maiden edition of Inter School Peevees ROBOFEST 2015 – OPUS GIMMIC was hosted by Al-Khozama International School Dammam February 21 at the school campus.
Over 12 contesting teams from grades 6-8 from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam competed in the robotic exhibition and competition.

Peevees Group of schools in KSA allied with Think Labs, Mumbai in the year 2012 and introduced Robotics as an additional program for students; and as of now is running successfully in all the six campuses for last three years.

Robotics integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM approach] with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.

These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, medical areas or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, or cognition.

Students exercised their prudence and excellent scientific temperament in showcasing their knowledge in calibration and controlling the robots.

The Robo Expo and Fest was inaugurated by chief guest Abdul Rahim, professor of System Engineering Department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

The guest of honor was Rafiul Hassan, assistant professor, Information and Computer Science at KFUM.

Moosa Koya, CEO of Eram Info tech, and Vikram Bane, assistant manager of Delivery from Thinklabs, Mumbai were the judges for the event.

Gopinath Menon, principal of Al-Khozama officially introduced the chief guest and the guest of honor.

Deputy Group manager Razi Shaikh Pareeth, admin officer Roshan, vice principal Jayaprakash Nair, headmistress Sajna Mylanchi, teachers and parents graced the occasion.

Scientific skills interpolated with computer knowledge showcased an eye opening and thought provoking carnival.

Almas Bunglowala was the master of ceremony, and Swaleha Dehalvi, Yunus and Leena coordinated the event.

Robo Fest was arranged in the multipurpose sports complex. The chief guest and parents were really amazed by the skills showcased by the students, not only in explaining how the robots functioned, but its application in real life.

Awards and certificates were distributed by the chief guest to the winners. Al Khozama bagged the winner’s trophy and the second runner up in the girl’s category, and New Al Wurood International School Jeddah bagged the winners (boys) and first runner up (girls).

Al Yasmin International School, Riyadh secured first runner up in the boy’s category and were also adjudged for the best presentation.

The chief guest said that he could foresee the leaders of the future in these brilliant students. He had never experienced such a gala and scientific bent of mind from children of a small age group.

“Dream to work in NASA or build another NASA in KSA or elsewhere,” the guest of honor said. The event was another feather in the cap of Peevees Group, as the group always believes in bringing innovations in education.

The program concluded with the valedictory function and the vote of thanks was given by Leena Gogy, academic coordinator of girls’ section. — via SaudiGazette

Published online 20 November 2014

In the not-too-distant past, biomedical research was conducted almost exclusively in North America and Western Europe. While Asia and South America have made impressive strides in contributing to scientific output over the past two decades, the Arab world is still lagging.

Ali A. Bazarbachi, Samia J. Khoury and Mohamed H. Sayegh

Populations in the Middle East are generally afflicted with diseases similar to those prevalent in Western countries. These include cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders. However, regional specificities have had an impact.

A high rate of consanguinity has led to various hereditary disorders. There has also been a significant increase in metabolic disorders, specifically in the Gulf region, largely attributed to widespread changes in diet and lifestyle. Furthermore, healthcare systems have been undermined by political instability and strife, resulting in an increase in infectious diseases, malnutrition and disability.

The concept of advanced biomedical research still does not exist in most of the region, with the exception of Turkey and Iran. Recent developments in biomedical research have surfaced in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region as well, with major investment in the creation of research infrastructure and research funding. But the fruits of such effort are yet to appear because of the absence of a critical mass of committed scientists.

Most of the region’s medical schools and universities offer the transmission of ‘second-hand’ knowledge in the absence of a true research culture. A general disinterest in scientific research adversely affects the quality of teaching and cultivates a culture of apathy.

Most active research is championed by a few dynamic individuals, based on their earlier achievements abroad, with little or no institutional incentives. They mostly collaborate with their university of origin in the United States or Europe and there is scant meaningful collaboration between institutions at the national or regional level.

The region’s participation in the advancement of science and medical discovery is important. Breakthroughs will improve quality of life for Middle Eastern people and ensure better patient care. There is also a need to attract internationally renowned investigators to create a nucleus of future scientific leaders.

Scientists should be encouraged toward personal academic growth. We need to involve students in medical research by bringing the latest research findings, including the results of a faculty’s own research activities, into the classrooms. This will generate research productivity and quality publications to increase the success rate in extramural funding, and pave the way to establish PhD and MD-PhD programmes in basic medical science.

Proposed solutions

The culture of research must be nurtured across society. This should start at the most basic level; as part of school curricula. Research is a complex process requiring critical thinking and strategic planning. Teaching students these skills would motivate them to be involved in research and provide them with a solid basis for the future.

The public must also be educated about research. There are many non-governmental organizations in the region, some of which are involved in supporting patients with particular diseases. In collaboration with the local governments and universities, these NGOs could provide education to the public about the importance of proper research and how it should be conducted.

The development of basic biomedical research can be encouraged by building on the strengths of the few areas where a critical mass of high-quality research already exists. This could be achieved by establishing regional collaborative groups for translational and clinical research.

These groups could then be used to launch meaningful investigator-initiated clinical trials and to forge partnership with the pharmaceutical industry. Regional incubators or centres of excellence are also needed to better manage resources and to attract investigators from abroad. They can also generate science-based innovations if partnerships with industry are established.

These centres require solid evaluation, auditing and quality assurance mechanisms. Based on track record, size and relative stability, the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center in Lebanon, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Saudi Arabia, and other centers in the Gulf area (such as Kuwait Science Foundation or Qatar Foundation) could spearhead this programme with the goal of integrating others at a later stage. The initial centres can establish a network that allows mobility of researchers, students and technicians.

A vital step in propelling research is establishing a regional, cross-border institute for funding of biomedical research. This should be similar to the National Institute of Health in the US or the European Research Council, and be funded by private donors, governments and foundations. Funding should be merit-based and dependent on the ongoing quality of research.

Research productivity must be scientifically evaluated through a regional watchdog with a special focus on promoting original publications in high impact journals. This body can also determine initial funding of the centres of excellence and regularly evaluate them. As research is now evolving rapidly at a high rate, support mechanisms and government regulations should allow for rapid decisions, quick customs procedures and easy international contacts.

We propose the establishment of a think-tank at the highest regional level (for example the deans of certain medical schools and heads of research institutes in the region) to develop the potential structure for the regional funding agency described above. This group would then become the figurehead for persuading governments, foundations and the private sector to create a regional NIH-like structure for the region.

This is a priority and an essential step to put the region on the map in biomedical research. We believe that we have the resources and the brainpower, but we need the stimulus.

As Seneca said: it is not because things are difficult we do not dare, it is because we do not dare things are difficult.

The authors are all members of the American University in Beirut’s Faculty of Medicine.

doi:10.1038/nmiddleeast.2014.263

This article was originally published on NatureAsia. Read the original article.
Featured Image Credits: Thinkstock

By Paula Hammond

In the 1980s, anyone wanting to play a round of golf in Saudi Arabia, would have had to make do with one of the Kingdom’s many desert courses, where instead of grass ‘greens’, golfers played on sandy ‘browns’. Water traps were merely pits marked with blue tape and players were allowed to bring their own square of turf with them to tee-off from. These days, Riyadh boasts several all-grass courses. Saudi Arabia may be one of planet Earth’s driest nations, with less than 59 millimeters of rain a year, but to the casual observer it looks like a veritable oasis. Appearances can be deceptive.

Water is one of the cornerstones of life. Although 71 percent of the planet’s surface is covered in this essential liquid, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh water. Most of this is locked up in glaciers, meaning that our survival as a species, hinges on the tiny percentage of water found in rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Of these there are two types; one is potentially renewable, while the other (fossil aquifers) remains water locked into the ground in the distant past, which can be exhausted.

Too much luxury?

As populations increase, and regions become more industrialised, the challenge of balancing water needs with available supplies is already – in some Muslim countries – becoming a matter of life and death. And it’s a problem exacerbated by climate change. In fact, in 2011, Kuwait set a world temperature record of 53.3’C – so hot that when rain comes, most water evaporates before it penetrates the ground.

Solving Problems

A ‘water-stressed’ nation is one, where there’s less than 1,000 cubic meters of water available per person per year. According to a World Resources Institute study, 36 countries worldwide have “extremely high” water-stress levels, including Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Saudi Arabia.

So the question has to be asked: if Saudi Arabia is so water-stressed, how can it possibly build real-grass golf courses? The answer is simple: money.

In many Muslim nations, water management hinges on tried and tested techniques, which are quick and cheap to implement. In the Middle East for instance, farmers have been irrigating their land using qanats since the time of the Persian Empire. These sloping tunnels are cut into the mountainside and channel water where it’s needed most. In rural Tunisia, farmers bury cisterns on sloping ground to act as mini reservoirs, to collect rainwater for drinking. This too, is a technique dating back to the Bronze Age.

In nations with more financial muscle, new technologies have been brought in to help the fight. Drip-irrigation – where crops are watered at the roots using perforated tubes buried underground – is one technique that has proved to be very successful, increasing crop yields by 50%, using 50% less water.

Using oil-drilling technology, Saudi Arabia has tapped aquifers below the desert sands, enabling it become self-sufficient in wheat. Around fifty percent of its drinking water, comes from huge desalination plants, that convert seawater into fresh water, while its super-green golf-courses, are irrigated with a mix of desalinated water and treated urban waste water.

Creating Problems

Sadly, though, despite Saudi Arabia’s impressively verdant golf courses, water is still a finite resource and increasingly, even the Kingdom’s oil revenues can’t keep its rapidly growing population fed and watered.

In 2008, the Saudi government admitted that its fossil aquifers were almost depleted. In 2013, Waleed El-Khereiji, Head of the Grains and Silos Flour Management Organization announced that “2015 will be the last market year for local wheat production. We will be fully dependent on imported wheat … by 2016.” The decision was taken to save what little groundwater resources the nation still had.

Afghanistan’s farms and burgeoning cities are putting similarly unsustainable demands on its groundwater. Water tables around the capital are falling by 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) a year and could soon run out completely. Pakistan is so water-stressed that according to a World Bank report “the survival of a modern and growing Pakistan is threatened by [a lack of] water”.

The situation in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia has become so severe, that they’ve taken the step of actually leasing land in sub-Saharan Africa on which to grow crops. However, this is a House of Cards solution at best. Using more water for crop production in, say Ethiopia, where most of the Nile’s headwaters begin, means that nations downstream like Egypt, will ultimately have less water. In the meantime, Turkey is throwing fuel on the fire, with a huge hydroelectric progamme. By damming rivers to power cities, they are inadvertently reducing the water that once flowed into the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, leaving populations in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, to go dry.

Water Wars

There’s no simple solution to the world’s water shortages but according to His Excellency Hazim El-Naser Ph.D, Minister of Water and Irrigation for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, unless nations begin to seriously address them, we may soon see our first water wars. “It’s coming” he said.

Looking at water-greedy developments like Riyadh’s golf courses, the concept of shortages is so dire, that they cause water wars that may be hard to swallow, but they’re already here. In 2012, in Beni Sueif in Egypt, one person was killed and many more injured, during a conflict over irrigation water. In the same year, engineers working on flood defenses were attacked and explosives were detonated at Wular Lake in a dispute between Pakistan and India, over control of the waters of the Indus Basin. It’s not hard to imagine such conflicts spilling over, until nations are fighting nations over the control of quickly dwindling water supplies.

Yet if water – or the lack of it – causes conflicts, then Hazim El-Naser believes that it can also bring people together. “Water”, he says, “is the bridge to peace and trust building …”.

All over the world, Muslim nations are fighting to preserve their precious water reserves, using both old and new technologies. Long-neglected quants in Syria and Oman, have been repaired. In Yemen, where people have less than 140 cubic meters of water a year, plans are afoot that could see Sana’a City ‘harvesting’ 100% of its rainwater by 2020. In Iran, farmers are being advised to grow crops that use less water – pistachios rather than sugar beets. While drip-irrigation is being combined with GPS tracking so that tractors can avoid damaging delicate drip lines; making the system even more efficient.

Yet as Hazim El-Naser understands, water shortages are a problem that no one nation can solve on their own. Co-operation, and the sharing of resources and technologies, is not just the best way to combat the problem. It’s the only way. Without it, we could all well be like the Ancient Mariner in the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”

Paula Hammond is a professional author of over 35 non-fiction books, including popular science volumes on fossils, dinosaurs and endangered animals. She has a passion for learning and the wonders of the natural world.

Sources:

1. The World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.PRCP.MM
2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov/ocean.html
3. For a further breakdown of the world’s water resources see: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html
4. An underground water supply, which is often found in porous rock.
5. Source: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/01/14/404552/seven-national-all-time-heat-records-set-in-2011/
6. For additional analysis visit http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/world’s-36-most-water-stressed-countries
7. From an Irrigation Australian study: http://irrigation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Drip-Irrigation-brochure-final-for-print-v8.pdf
8. “Pakistan’s Water Economy: Running Dry”, a World Bank Report: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/11/9596145/pakistans-water-economy-running-dry
9. His Excellency Hazim El-Naser PhD, Minister of Water and Irrigation for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in a talk given at Stamford Woods Institute. For a discussion of this lecture visit https://woods.stanford.edu/news-events/news/waters-link-middle-east-peace
10. For more information on “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and its author see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner

By Russell Sticklor

Most nations within the Muslim world in the early 21st century find themselves experiencing an uncomfortable and serious shortage of a natural resource far more important than either natural gas or oil — water. Exacerbated by population growth, climate change, and economic development, water scarcity is now a serious issue across a broad arc of the world, stretching from North Africa across the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula and deep into Central and South Asia. What can be done then to ease a growing water crisis poised to affect the Muslim world for generations to come?

One potential answer lies in combining two of the Muslim’s world’s greatest untapped natural resources — solar power and seawater. This year, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are ambitiously pursuing plans to build the world’s first large-scale solar-powered desalination plants.

If successful, these projects would be a symbolic triumph. They would serve as proof that two virtually unlimited resources can be combined to increase fresh water supply in some of the world’s most water-stressed areas, even if by only a relatively modest amount. The success of these projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE could also provide a technological blueprint that theoretically could be replicated in any nation with a coastline and enough sunshine. Water-stressed nations in the planet’s “sun belt” — which receives frequent and powerful sunshine for much of the year — would be particularly well positioned to benefit. It is here, within this belt, where the bulk of the world’s Muslim population lives.

Map courtesy of Flickr user Kevin Gill.

Powering Desalination: Making the Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewables

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the world’s largest producers of desalinated water. These countries’ reliance on desalination — still a hugely energy-intensive process despite decades of technological refinement — is borne out of necessity. Neither country has enough surface water or groundwater within its borders, to sustain its population. Other Muslim countries may find themselves in the same situation before long.

To date, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been able to address water scarcity issues, by powering their desalination plants with fossil fuels. Why then are these two countries looking to still-unproven solar energy technology, to power the next generation of large-scale desalination facilities?

Beyond the 21st century — and likely during the 21st century — the global economy will need to transition away from its reliance on fossil fuels as these finite resources grow more scarce. This will be true even for countries currently sitting atop massive fossil fuel reserves, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other energy titans of the Muslim world. Navigating this transition will be by no means easy. For the UAE, investing in innovative new solar-powered desalination technology, aims to kill two birds with one stone: Not only will its plant in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate bolster local fresh water supply, it will also produce clean, renewable electricity for domestic consumption.

Some experts are very optimistic about the potential of solar-powered desalination technology, to eventually catch on elsewhere. Vladimir Smakhtin of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and co-author of a recent research study on solar-powered desalination, recently told me via e-mail, of the wide-ranging implications, should efforts to purify seawater using renewable energy, prove successful:

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have all necessary attributes to become the leaders in this industry — lack of fresh water, plenty of sun, access to the sea and sufficient funds to invest. If they manage, in the near future, to shift their water supply sector to solar-powered desalination, it could be simply a clear proof-of-concept that this approach is capable of resolving water scarcity once and for all. It will pave the way for some other nations to follow.

A fossil fuel–powered desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates’ Ras Al-Khaimah, the same emirate that will soon be home to one of the world’s largest solar-powered desalination plants

Scientific Obstacles and Opportunities

How far away are we from being able to use this type of technology? The answer remains unclear, but in Smakhtin’s eyes, the time is now. “Technologically,” he says, “it is already mature enough to produce significant quantities of water in certain regions,” including much of North Africa and the Middle East. But before solar power can become a meaningful part of a nation’s energy-generating infrastructure, there are significant obstacles that must be first overcome, such as finding more effective ways to store solar energy, a long-standing issue.

Even in light of this major hurdle, however, ongoing research and pilot projects suggest it is only a matter of time before solar power becomes a reliable and economically viable energy source. Furthermore, despite its current technological shortcomings, it is clear solar power arguably holds the greatest potential for generating clean energy in the sun-belt countries of the Muslim world. Indeed, in a 21st century world that will need to find new power sources to fill the energy gap left by increasingly scarce fossil fuels, the Muslim world’s solar power riches have the potential to emerge as a major economic competitive advantage. In the case of North Africa, for instance, “all the countries in this area have sunny days more than 80 percent of the year,” desalination plant manager José Rafael, who has worked on projects across the region, told me via e-mail.

But although our scientific knowledge of both solar power and desalination is growing sophisticated enough to effectively combine these technologies, there are other important limits on desalination’s potential to resolve water scarcity issues. Firstly, Rafael says the biggest issue facing countries “is the large initial investment,” given the funding currently needed to install solar panel arrays and construct desalination facilities and water distribution infrastructure.

Ecological issues such as brine disposal and the potential degradation of coastal ecosystems are some of the “environmental aspects of large-scale solar desalination technology interventions that still need to be sorted out,” adds Smakhtin. Aditya Sood, Smakhtin’s research study co-author and fellow member of IWMI, admits “it will be interesting to see how Saudi Arabia and the UAE handle” such environmental challenges.

Another potential issue concerns maintenance of the solar panel components. Anwar Ahsan, a desalination expert who worked for Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation for 27 years, told me via e-mail that “humidity, moisture, and air-borne dust could be the biggest hurdles to tackle,” as these conditions might threaten panels’ ability to function efficiently.

Lastly, even under ideal circumstances, desalination alone cannot produce enough fresh water to accommodate the total water needs of the Muslim world’s rapidly growing population and developing economies, especially in the agricultural sector. Meanwhile, some populations living far away from the coast, may also find themselves unable to use desalinated water, due to the huge amounts of energy it requires to transport desalinated water inland, over long distances.

The-Azzizia-desalination-plant-in-Al-Khobar-Eastern-Province-Saudi-Arabia-is-one-of-the-country’s-many-fossil-fuel–powered-desalination-facilities. (Photo courtesy Flickr user Waleed Alzuhair)

Pathway to a More Water-Secure Future

Going forward, populations across the Muslim world contending with serious water scarcity, will have to use a patchwork approach to address this unprecedented challenge. While desalination should be used as one tool, the emphasis must be placed on more efficient water management and finding ways to incentivize water conservation at every level of society, from individual households to big industrial firms and agricultural operations. Only by reducing demand for water, can water-stressed populations truly gain the upper-hand in the fight against scarcity of this vital resource.

Nevertheless, solar-power desalination could one day play a potentially influential role in shaping the Muslim world’s water future. Throughout many Muslim countries, the greatest concentrations of populations live in urban areas near or on a coastline, meaning desalinated water could be delivered to consumers without the need for costly and energy-consuming long-distance pipelines. Even populations living far from the ocean — including entirely landlocked nations — might stand to benefit from solar-powered desalination. “In countries where sea coasts are not available,” Moustafa Hatem Sewelam, an engineering manager with a Saudi desalination firm GETCO, told me recently via e-mail, “this technology can be used [to purify] brackish waters in desert areas.”

There are other hopeful signs as well. Costs of desalination technology are expected to gradually drop — as they have during the past several decades — thanks to improvements in reverse osmosis filtering technology, which makes the seawater purification process more energy efficient. As energy requirements are reduced, it becomes more likely, solar power will be able to provide sufficient energy for the purification process.

In the coming years, the eyes of many desalination experts will be focused on the outcome of the ambitious experiments now underway, on the coasts of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “The experiences gained will help these countries and many communities in the world in need of suitable potable water,” predicts Anwar Ahsan.

Solar-powered desalination — with its potential to someday ease water stress in the most water-scarce corners of the world — indeed carries great promise. If the concept of harnessing the power of virtually unlimited sunlight to produce fresh water from a virtually unlimited supply of seawater should eventually prove viable scientifically and economically, the Muslim world will have a unique and historic opportunity in the decades ahead to become global pioneers in solar-powered desalination, finding themselves in an enviable position to disseminate this hybrid technology to water-stressed coastal populations around the globe.

Solar-powered desalination could one day emerge as a key part of the puzzle in mitigating the world’s worsening fresh water crisis. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Andrea de Poda.

Russell Sticklor (CGIAR/International Water Management Institute) is a water specialist and journalist covering the intersection of environmental change, population growth, and human security. He is a Non-Resident Research Fellow with the Stimson Center Environmental Security Program and co-author of “Water Challenges and Cooperative Response in the Middle East and North Africa” (Brookings, 2012).

*Images are courtesy the writer

Steaming rubbish heaps, foul waterways, unexplained ailments, unexpected deaths – this is the reality of most modern developing countries. Those who can, retreat into bubbles of serenity; those who cannot, succumb to tired banality. Some strive to bring about change, to raise awareness, to encourage social and civic responsibility; others dismiss new-fangled environmental, civic and social concerns as “western luxuries”.

Pakistan is one such ‘modern’ developing country, with complicated issues popping up faster than a team of weary activists can spot them. But stories of woe and pessimism on Pakistan’s impending implosion, litter our news landscape. Sadly missing are the success stories, the breakthroughs; the developments that augur well for the country’s progress.

And there are quite a few. An extremely important one, is the increasing focus on solar energy development, both in the private and the public sector.

Crisis in the making

Pakistan receives over 320 days of extended daylight hours and high levels of average daily solar radiation energy (insolation) – 5.3kwh/m2 (1).

PV Tech: Solar radiation map

This, combined with over dependence on an expensive supply of fossil fuels – thermal power accounts for over 60% of electricity generation –makes it an ideal candidate for solar power development.

According to a World Bank report, although 68% of Pakistan’s population has access to electricity, 44% of all households are off-grid; 81% of these in rural areas (2). These tend to use(unsubsidized) kerosene as an alternative energy source – an expensive proposition given the cost of oil.

With the supply plateaued at 12000 MW and the demand skyrocketing at 19000 MW during summers, the country is experienced crippling energy shortages and power blackouts. No wonder then, that energy has therefore shot up to the top of the priority list, along with Security, according to Zubair Kazmi, Country Manager Pakistan for Canadian solar power company, SkyPower. The government of Pakistan, worried about the potential for unrest the energy crises holds, is backing a number of projects in hydro (which currently accounts for 31% of electricity generation), thermal and biogas energy, all of which are expected be online by 2015-2017.

Renewed Interest

The government has had a coherent Renewable Energy Frame working place since 1992, according to Kazmi, and a National Power Policy framework was announced in 2013 (5). However, implementation has been sporadic and small scale, with the primary bottleneck holding back investment, being the cost of debt, says Kazmi.

The nature of Pakistan’s risk profile is such, that the cost of debt needed to fund these capital-intensive projects is high and the sources of such funding – both domestic and international – are limited. Prohibitive financial costs are a major deterrent, especially to private and small-scale investment.

Under external and internal pressure, the government is offering subsidies and incentives to foreign and local investors, to attract investment in the sector and mitigate – at least to some extent – Pakistan’s destructive energy shortage.

Energy Bangla-Pakistan Parliament

Solar power projects have been launched with the support of global institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as well as the governments of China, Saudi Arabia and Germany (6). Locally, Bank of The Punjab is at the forefront of domestic initiatives, with schemes such as BOP Solar aimed at providing funding for small solar power home kits. Various high profile public sector projects have already been implemented, such as, the installation of solar panels at Parliament House, Islamabad that will generate 1.8MW when completed. The panels are being installed at a cost of US$60m funded by the Chinese government (7).

Previous projects include a 356kW solar-powered on-grid power plant in Islamabad, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (8).

Pakistan has a thriving IPP (Independent Power Producers) sector with just over 50% of the country’s thermal energy production of 15.5MW provided by IPP’s (9). Many industries depend on private power generators to maintain operations, as indeed do many private households. The government is hoping to encourage similar investment in solar power production. Major players in the solar power sector include Nizam Solar, Pak Solar, Dawood Lawrencepur, Solartech, and Skypower.

Japan International Cooperation Agency-Pakistan Planning Commission Islamabad

A solar park project is now being developed in the eastern province of Punjab, in conjunction with the Government of Punjab, Bank of Punjab and Chinese investment at a cost of US$5m. It is hoped, that once the infrastructure of transmission lines, water pipes, and roads is in place, private investment will pour in to build up initial capacity from 100MW to 1000MW.

Experts suggest the government can boost investment and demand, by bringing down costs for end-users: by removing various tariffs and duties charged on parts and equipment. Novel methods of financing the cost of development such as micro-financing, pay-as-you-go schemes; remittance backed funding and payroll deductions can be used, to circumvent the high cost of financing for private urban and rural households and enable take-up of solar power solutions.

Catching Up

Solar power use to address Pakistan’s energy crisis, can prove revolutionary; the lack thereof (solar or otherwise) can prove equally disastrous, as we have seen recently in countries around the world when desperate, frustrated citizens have turned to violent protest. India, says Kazmi, is at least a couple of decades ahead of Pakistan, as far as solar power investment is concerned with a grid connected solar power capacity of 2208 MW. Others, such as Saudi Arabia, are rushing to get ahead, especially those dependent on fossil fuels were demand is fast outstripping supply creating a scenario, where the country could become a net importer of oil by 2030. The government has therefore announced an atomic and renewable energy roadmap, aimed at generating at least one fifth (41GW) of its energy demand via solar power by 2032 (10). According to a report by consulting firm ClearSky Advisors, if realized, this target would place Saudi Arabia in the top 5 solar energy producers in the world (currently consisting of Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and China).

Interestingly, although Bangladesh is also considered ahead of Pakistan in solar power, comparing the two makes no sense, says Kazmi. Where 80% of Bangladesh is off-grid, demand is primarily for solar lanterns to replace kerosene lamps or for limited use, such as to power light bulbs. But policy focus is strong and resolute, putting the country on a ‘high growth trajectory’ of solar power through a number of initiatives aimed at electrifying homes; improving agricultural production; and establishing small and medium sized power plants across the country to power railway stations, government offices and factories (11).

Rooftop solar panel – Khulna, Bangladesh, 2010 (MajorityWorld/UIG/GettyImages)

Regulatory clarity could be the key

The ‘energy’ situation in Pakistan has become untenable, with residential demand accounting for half of total electricity consumption.There is, thus, fresh emphasis on the renewable energy sector driven by the realization, that with demand for electricity far outstripping supply, the current situation is also extremely dangerous. The government needs to urgently address the regulatory environment governing the solar energy sector, to stimulate demand for solar power and drive investment in the sector.

Razya Kirmani is a London-based, freelance writer and blogger interested in science, education, current affairs and developments in the Muslim world. She is an incorrigible optimist.

References

(1) Pakistan Renewable Energy Society: http://www.pres.org.pk/category/re-technologies/solar-energy/

(2, 11) Lighting Asia: Solar Off-grid Lighting, May 2012: International Finance Corporation (Online) Available from:

http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/ifc+sustainability/publications/publications_report_lightingasia

(3) Alahdad, Z. Pakistan’s Energy Sector – From Crises to Crises – Breaking the Chain, 2012: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (Online) Available from:

http://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/publications/Monograph/Pakistans%20Energy%20Sector%20From%20Crisis%20to%20Crisis-Breaking%20the%20Chain.pdf

(4) Pakistan Energy Yearbook, 2012: Hydrocarbon Development Institute Pakistan (Online) available from:

http://www.kpkep.com/documents/Pakistan%20Energy%20Yearbook%202012.pdf

(5)National Power Policy, 2013, Ministry of Water and Power, Gov’t of Pakistan (Online) Available from:

http://www.ppib.gov.pk/National%20Power%20Policy%202013.pdf

(6) Thomson Reuters Foundation, Pakistan turns to solar energy as power shortfall widens, 2014 (Online) http://www.trust.org/item/20140116230113-87r9a/

(7) The Guardian, Pakistan Parliament turns to Solar Power, 2014 (Online): http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/20/pakistan-parliament-turns-to-solar-power

(8) Japan International Cooperation Agency, Press Release (Online) http://www.jica.go.jp/pakistan/english/office/topics/press120529.html

(9) Associated Press of Pakistan, 22 Solar Power Projects of 772.99 under development, 2014 (Online): http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=266473&Itemid=2

(10) Ghaban, A. Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Strategy & Solar Energy Deployment Roadmap,2010, Royal Order (King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy – 2010)(Online) Available from: https://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/masdar/Abdulrahman%20Al%20Ghabban%20Presentation.pdf

Additional Reading

i. Triple Bottom-Line Magazine: http://www.tbl.com.pk/the-feasibility-of-renewable-energy-in-pakistan/

ii. Aftab, S. Pakistan’s Energy Crises: Causes, Consequences and Possible Remedies, 2014 (Online) Available from:   (http://www.peacebuilding.no/eng/Regions/Asia/Pakistan/Publications/Pakistan-s-energy-crisis-causes-consequences-and-possible-remedies/(language)/eng-US

iii. KACARE: http://www.kacare.gov.sa/en/

The term ‘petrodollars’ may simply mean money earned from the sale of oil, but that it is not all that it implies. It is a loaded and political term used almost always in reference to Middle Eastern oil producers and often suggests quick and maybe even undeserved returns without thought to long-term impact.

So it would come as a surprise to many, when that very same denigrated wealth – the petrodollar – is being invested in the clean energy and sustainability-focused innovation, that humanity needs to overcome the challenges posed by climate change. And by the oil producing Arab states, no less.

But that is what is being witnessed in parts of the Arab Gulf – large scale ‘petrodollar-funded’ investment in research and development in an area that in essence, aims to one day put the petrol industry out of business.

Clean energy initiatives in the Gulf

Energy initiatives

In 2006, the United Arab Emirates established the Masdar Initiative, to invest in renewable energy and clean technology, and today it has three business units and an independent post-graduate research institute under its umbrella, to further its goals. It’s Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, in particular, has the objective of evolving collaborative research and development capability in advanced energy and sustainability.

Across the border in Saudi Arabia, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology was founded in 2009, with the largest endowment ever witnessed for a university – $20 billion. It too, has a goal of producing new innovative technology and high-value human capital, with its Solar and Photovoltaic Engineering Research Center in particular focusing on renewable energy technologies.

Nearby, the Qatar Foundation established the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute in 2011, to conduct and coordinate research that addresses energy and environmental issues, while the Qatar Science and Technology Park, aims to serve as a business hub and incubator for related industries.

The Middle East and North Africa solar power sector alone, could see investments up to $50 billion by 2020, the Middle East Solar Industry Association and Meed Insights MENA Solar Energy Report estimated. Considering that these three countries jointly are only about the size of Algeria with combined population of less than 40 million, that is a lot of renewable-energy focused investment.

Economic pragmatism at work

There are sound reasons for it. A major reason is pragmatism: the oil and gas that has provided the major portion of the national wealth for these states, will run out eventually. Saudi Arabia, believed to have the second largest oil reserve in the world, may run out of oil as early as 2030, according to a report from Citigroup in 2012. What does an economy that was powered by ‘petrodollars’ do when it has no more petrol to sell? If it does not have other high-value products and services to offer the global market, the simple answer is, it shrinks. Rather than see their economic development falter, forward-thinking Gulf States are investing today in alternative products, to continue to fuel their economic engines tomorrow.

Yet, why pick sustainable energy and clean technologies for economic diversification? Because it makes good economic sense. While there may be lower hanging fruits – industries that are less risky with stable returns– no sector offers as large of potential profit and caters to so massive a global market as sustainable energy. Energy is a product that every government and every industry needs in secure and affordable supply. The Gulf States are hoping to be among those, who can provide that through alternative energy technologies, and reap the resulting rewards. “You’re seeing countries like UAE make substantial investments in renewables because they realize that clean energy is going to be one of the largest growth industries of the 21st century,” Amit Ronen, the director of the George Washington University Solar Institute, told Aljazeera news.

An opportunity to create science and technology for the future

Petro-Dollars

But the most dynamic and compelling reason behind the why Arab petrodollars are funding renewable energy and clean technology, is opportunity. Research and development (R&D) in technology, is an expensive undertaking, particularly that, which looks to bring about massive shift changes and innovation. In this post-global recession reality, fewer governments have the available financial resources to invest in the costly and high-risk realm of advanced sustainable technologies and clean renewable energy.

The US – long time global R&D investment leader – will only be increasing federal R&D funding by 1.2 percent in 2015 (White House Office for Science and Technology Policy, 2014), with an overall decreasing trend in R&D investment as a percent of GDP, estimated at 2.77 in 2011 (World Bank). Europe is similarly flagging; the UK R&D spending overall fell 3% while the rest of the European Union invests a mere 2.06% of its GDP in R&D (Office for National Statistics, 2014).

“Where the west has retrenched, Asia has advanced,” the Batelle 2014 Global R&D Funding Investment report states. While Japan has been the historic Asian R&D giant, China has been gaining ground, and is expected to surpass US R&D funding by about 2022 (Martin Grueber, 2013). It is in that shifting balance, that the Gulf States are carving out their position today with their renewable energy and clean technology focused R&D investment. By leveraging their financial reserves, they are developing the new technology, systems and highly-trained human capital that world will need in the energy-constrained, climate change-beset future, securing for themselves and their people a continuing source of prosperity.

With the strength of these motivations and the breadth of the investment and support for renewable energy and advanced sustainable technologies in the Arab Gulf, the coming decades will serve to be the proving period for this bold new economic experiment.

Given the growing severity of climate change impacts, the world already needs green innovation, petrodollar funded or otherwise. If the revenue gained from fossil fuel sales can be used to help mitigate their impact on the environment, all the better.

Zarina Khan is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Knight Science Journalism Fellow working in science communication in the United Arab Emirates.

The theme for this month’s issue is ‘Science and the Environment’. The world is currently under a drastic environmental shift, as several factors are coming together and modifying the ecological conditions of the earth. As the weather patterns gradually change, the inherent environmental systems of the Earth are being stirred, resulting in drops in sea levels, deforestation, decrease in crop yields, increase in global warming, melting of glaciers and so on and so forth.

This time round, localhost/muslim brings for you, an exciting infographic on the state of the environment in the Muslim world. We looked at an assortment of the most popular environmental trends in the global arena, such as out of control carbon emissions, deforestation, fossil fuel usage, water scarcity, etc. and find the most striking representation of these within the Islamic World.

The result? An infographic that brings forth some key fronts of the climate change within the Islamic World:

Click on the image for a larger view. Click (here) for a high resolution image.

Sources:

1. CDP ‘Global 500 Climate Change Report 2013’: https://www.cdp.net/CDPResults/CDP-Global-500-Climate-Change-Report-2013.pdf
2. ‘Response to climate change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’ report: http://www.fao.org/forestry/29157-0d03d7abbb7f341972e8c6ebd2b25a181.pdf
3. ‘Climate Finance for the Middle East and North Africa: Confronting the challenges of climate change’report: www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/7921.pdf
4. ‘Climate change initiatives in Malaysia’ presentation report: http://www.auedm.net/Data/activities/1st%20Workshop/Workshop/Joy%20Pereira/KyotoJul08print.pdf
5. UNEP and WMO report, ‘Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone’ : http://www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/Black_Carbon.pdf
6. ADB’s report on ‘The economics of climate change in Southeast Asia: A regional review’: http://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/publications/reports/pdf/sr004/adb.pdf
7. WWF report on ‘Climate Change and its Realities for Pakistan’ : http://pecongress.org.pk/images/upload/books/6-Climate%20Change%20and%20its%20Realities%20for%20Pakistan%20%286%29.pdf
8. Tableau Public pictorial report on ‘World CO2 Emissions’: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/co2-emissions
9. EPA report on ‘Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data’: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html
10. ‘Everything you need to know about climate change – interactive’ in The Guardian (21 August 2011): http://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2011/aug/15/everything-know-climate-change
11. WMO report on ‘A summary on current climate change findings and figures’: http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/factsheet/documents/ClimateChangeInfoSheet2013-03final.pdf
12. IIED report on ‘A burden to share? Addressing unequal climate impacts in the Least Developed Countries’: http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/17181IIED.pdf
13. UNDP-UNEP report on ‘Mainstreaing Climate Change adaptation into development planning: a guide for practitioners’: http://www.unep.org/pdf/mainstreaming-cc-adaptation-web.pdf
14. IPCC report on ‘Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change’: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg3/
15. WHO report on ‘The social dimensions of climate change’: http://www.who.int/globalchange/mediacentre/events/2011/social-dimensions-of-climate-change.pdf
16. WHO and WMO report on ‘Atlas of health and climate’: http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/atlas/report/en/
17. Water cooperation 2013 infographic
18. World Bank report ‘Turn Down the Heat’: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/06/14/000445729_20130614145941/Rendered/PDF/784240WP0Full00D0CONF0to0June19090L.pdf
19. World Resources Institute infographic on ‘Project Potico’: http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/forests-and-landscapes-indonesia
20. IEA report on ‘Key World Energy Statistics 2013’: http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyWorld2013.pdf
21. UN report on ‘Production, trade and consumption of crude petroleum’: http://unstats.un.org/UNSD/energy/yearbook/2010/2010_214.pdf
22. NASA Global Climate Change Statistics: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence
23. Forbes ’25 biggest oil and gas companies’: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45glfe/not-just-the-usual-suspects-2/