According to Middle East Institute the Gulf region’s unsustainable urban growth has had a detrimental effect on the environment in several ways, including greenhouse gas emissions and energy-intensive desalination. With 2.9% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions or about four times its share of the world’s population, the Gulf region bears a disproportionate amount of the blame for global emissions.
The Gulf region greatly affected by climate change, especially Dubai. Around 8,000 years ago, changes in the Earth’s axis tilt caused the Arabian Peninsula to become virtually uninhabitable and altered the global climate. As ice sheets and glaciers began to melt at the end of the last ice age, sea levels rose globally and the Gulf itself started to emerge. The Arabian Peninsula presented formidable challenges to human settlements since there were so few places with access to water, a temperate climate, and the ability to grow food.
The Gulf countries’ discovery of oil and gas during the past century changed the region’s fortunes and permitted some of its villages to expand into metropolises. Fossil fuel exports expanded quickly, creating trade surpluses that, when combined with the globalization of hinterlands, allowed for the virtual importation of water and food from outside the area. Additionally, they made it possible for technologies like air conditioning and water desalination to imported, which raised living standards and increased population. Over the past 60 years, the countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council have seen a tenfold rise in population.
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A metropolitan area in the Gulf developed that was functioning much above its ecological limits as a result of the wealth created by oil exports. The ecological deficits of the Gulf region are significantly higher than those of the highly industrialized economies of China, Europe, and North America. This deficit results from rising consumption, reliance on imports, and the use of environmentally hazardous technology to meet the basic demands of the populace. Comparing the region to other worldwide cities, there is a false feeling of urban equality, even less than a century after the oil industry first emerged.
Gulf communities prioritized private automobiles over public transportation and had low-density, single-use zoning. petroleum prices were subsidized by Gulf countries, which made petroleum an essential component of their governments’ social contracts. This made any move toward energy-efficient public transportation less attractive. The majority of the building stock was made up of energy-inefficient, fully glassed structures, and incentives for efficiency were eliminated by subsidized power and water bills.
By the end of the century, summer temperatures in the Gulf might rise by up to 12 degrees Celsius in the worst-case scenario of climate change. In Riyadh, Mecca, Medina, Kuwait, Muscat, and Doha, the average summertime maximum temperature may be higher than 55°C, and in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat, it may even reach 60°C.
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In addition, tropical cyclones from the Arabian Sea will be drawn into the warming Gulf of Oman as the Gulf waters continue to warm. Hurricane Shaheen was the first tropical cyclone to hit Oman’s northern shore in 2021. Urban flooding is a problem as a result, particularly in places with sensitive terrain like Muscat, Oman, and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Low-lying coastal regions are vulnerable to flooding. The Gulf’s water levels rose to a height of one to two meters above the present before levelling off some 4,000 years ago. Although the shoreline was unoccupied at the time, cities and infrastructure are now located there, putting them at risk from sea level rise brought on by climate change. Southwest Iran and southern Iraq are most at risk from long-term sea level rise. However, there are hazards for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Manama as well, particularly for newly constructed coastal areas and artificial islands.
When the full effects of global warming seen over generations on glaciers and oceans, sea levels will rise over time. However, once particular carbon dioxide levels achieved, these phenomena will locked in and difficult to undo.
