Sustainable Development Goals, Extractives Industries and the Energy Nexus – Insights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

Abstract

Sustainable development is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges
the world continues to face today. We live in a world where more than
800 million people still live in extreme poverty; one out of nine people
are starving; 2.5 billion lack access to clean water; and 1.3 billion people
have no access to modern electricity. It is against this backdrop that the
world leaders in September 2015 adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, enshrining the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) – a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that all UN
Member States are expected to use for framing their sustainable
development agendas and policies until 2030. This article seizes the
opportunity to engage in the ongoing discourse on the contributions
from major sectors to the realization of the SDGs, particularly in the face
of growing world population. The purpose of the article is to explore the
role of the energy sector in the implementation of sustainable development
agendas, particularly in the MENA region. The article finds that the
region’s diverse circumstances and substantial petroleum and natural
gas reserves make it an ideal region for typifying the central role of
energy in today’s world. The article explores, under five themes, some
pertinent issues relating to the UNSDGs and their connectivity to energy,
drawing illustrative examples from four countries – one small resource rich country (Qatar), one relatively large resource-rich country (Saudi
Arabia), the largest country from North Africa (Egypt), and a country  grappling with the challenges of reconstruction after years of strive and
instability (Iraq). The article highlights that some of the countries are
successfully unlocking the benefits of economic growth, through the
development of their natural resources. It concludes that, through
concerted efforts to address some challenges, extractive sector operations
can play significant roles in advancing the SDGs in the entire region.