Cooperation or competition? State environmental relations and the SDGs agenda in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region

Abstract

For around 40 years, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been developing cooperative frameworks that aim at enhancing security and economic cooperation as well as establishing joint action on common threats such as environmental degradation of the Gulf waters. Population and economic growth, alongside global issues such as climate change, have increased the pressure on vulnerable ecosystems. They have also resulted in the expansion of environmental concerns and the associated risks. In fact, contemporary sustainability issues represented by global visions such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include numerous issues to tackle sustainability in a comprehensive manner. Using mapping of the SDG-based sustainability issues, this paper examines interstate relations among GCC states aimed at achieving comprehensive sustainability outcomes through regional environmental cooperation. It highlights the conceptual and practical relevance of such regional cooperation among GCC states, which share a common pool resource (the Gulf) and many socio-economic, physical, and cultural similarities. Sustainability issues, interstate relations and GCC-based cooperation are examined in terms of policies, legacies, interests and commitments across different sectors; e.g., water, energy, agriculture, ecosystems, and climate. Despite not being comprehensive and not resulting in strong, enforceable outcomes, regional environmental cooperation in the GCC region has been valuable for environmental collaboration and policy coordination. There is a need to strengthen cooperative frameworks, issue representation, and participation in order to overcome the recent rise in interstate competition and political rifts that are negatively affecting the capacity of the regional level to contribute to future environmental outcomes.