The Arab Spring and Resource Management
Dr. FAROUK EL-BAZ
Young Arabs revolted against the status quo of inept governance and tyrannical rule. They astounded the world by their insistence on change seeking a better future. They came into a world lacking vision with weak leadership and degraded environment. They simultaneously concluded that nothing would change unless they took matters into their own hands. No wonder that while showing great anger, many cleaned the demonstration areas amidst the turmoil.
Those courageous youth recognize that the necessary transformations are multi-faceted. There are cries for better governance where personal freedoms rule. They seek uplifting their societies by developing both human capital and natural resources.
Developing human capital requires improving education at all levels and promoting science and technology research. Classical methods of instruction including rote learning must give way to interaction between teacher and student and encouraging innovation, which is a pre-requisite of development.
Economic development requires proper natural resources management, especially water. It is shameful that our rivers, canals and other waterways have been severely mismanaged. They are so badly treated by dumping of industrial waste, sewage, dead animals or trash; signs of uncivilized populations. By contrast, in ancient Egypt, each person had to declare “I never polluted the river” prior to meeting the gods in the afterlife.
Regarding other natural resources, the situation is even more troublesome. Numerous mountain regions and vast deserts are rich with precious metals, arable soils and building materials. Most remain unexplored or under-utilized. When they are mined, they are exported for processing abroad and imported as expensive products. It is daunting that 380 million people in 22 Arab countries contribute to the world trade, apart from oil and gas, only as much as Finland does! We need new initiatives to process our natural resources and develop modern capabilities to contribute to the world’s products.
It is clear that our human and natural resources are under-utilized and badly managed. Generations that allowed this should step-aside for the youth to rule. Even if they make mistakes, they would learn from them and lead the Arab world to a better future.
Dr. Farouk El-Baz is Director of the Remote Sensing Center at Boston University, USA.