Ecological Indicators for Landscape Assessment- Moving Forward with Sustainability Initiatives for Qatar

Abstract

According to the Central Intelligence Agency, Oil and gas have made Qatar the second highest per-capita income country - following Liechtenstein. The economy of Qatar is one of the active economies in the Middle East with a rapid growth in the construction sector. Since the mid-1980’s; there has been a major breakthrough in the economic situation. The recent infrastructure boom and economic growth has revealed that Qatar is among the countries with the highest water consumption per capita. According to (Public Health Trade Mission, 2010) Qatar consumes over 219 million gallons of water per day, 99% of which comes from desalination plants with an expensive process of water treatment and water consumption. This consumption is expected to reach 380 million gallons per day by 2013. According to its geographical location and climate, Qatar is classified as a hot subtropical desert and has no rivers or lakes. The primary sources of fresh water are ground water and the Arabian Gulf. Surface water is very limited; it is only after a good winter rainfall that water may be found in depressions, wadis and runnels and then only for a short period of time. In line with the previous and as the WWF Global article “Human demand outstrips nature’s supply” cited; the footprint of high income countries is three times that of middle income countries and five times that of low income countries. It is clear that moving the development capacity forward is essential for increasing the economic system output in Qatar. Accordingly sustainable development has become more urgent in Qatar. However, managing for sustainability will be impossible without tools that allow us to account for our demand on and supply of; ecological resources for different variables of sustainability, including landscape ecology performance. The paper intends to introduce a framework process for achieving an ecological landscape, sing implemented indicators based on Qatar’s ecological variables. The introduced framework process includes: 1) Identifying policy and guidance. 2) Developing indicators. 3) Developing an appropriate monitoring program.