Charting a new course in environmental good governance: Natural resource management, Al Hima & Islam

Water insecurity is emerging as one of the most imminent threats to the human environment in West Asia-North Africa (WANA). For instance, by 2025, water withdrawal is projected to increase by at least 50 percent, driving most countries in the region into food insecurity. The dominant frameworks for managing this threat are Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and sustainable development. The problem is that a capitalist system dominates both frameworks, with powerful stakeholders such as banks, media, governments and corporations, all of which benefit from an unsustainable status quo. The challenge is to move away from capitalist consumerism and transform resource users into resource stakeholders. In WANA, the motivation for this might be found in the Islamic tradition, specifically in the concept of al-hima, which is a community-based natural resources management system that promotes sustainable livelihoods, resources conservation, and environmental protection.

If water had been given a price tag, it would fit right into the capitalist system. The trend is increasingly shifting water from being an exploited public good to a regulated necessity through virtual water trade. However, this is far from enough, and regulations are often too weak or simply ineffective. To be fair, capitalism is not going produce fresh water, lucrative as that would have been. Water is becoming an issue with costs that has the potential to render capitalism irrelevant. The ongoing demographical changes in the region will require a 70 percent increase in food production over the next ten years. Food production requires water that simply does not exist. Similarly, in Syria, drought triggered a series of events including displacement, food insecurity and unemployment, which contributed to the 2011 breakdown in governance. Hence water is also a driver of conflict.

And just to mention a few more somber examples from the region. By 2020, the effects of groundwater contamination by salt-water on aquifers in Israel and Palestine will be irreversible. In five of the seven Arabian Peninsula countries, renewable water resources have already been exhausted. In Jordan and Lebanon, the Syrian refugee population is placing increasing pressure on the agriculture sector and food supply networks. In Iraq, salinity and desertification has left 40 percent of land unusable for agriculture, fueling sharp increases in urban migration. In Yemen, the same issues have rendered the country highly dependent on the international food market, with price shocks identified as the main cause of inter-community conflicts.

Few things are more crystal clear than this: we need to take water insecurity seriously, and we need to move fast. Recall the mantra that there cannot be a Plan B because we do not have a Planet B. So what is Plan A if mainstream frameworks such as IWRM and sustainable development are not sufficient to deal with these unprecedented regional challenges?

In WANA, common ethical guidelines drawn from Islam may form the basis of a narrative that is capable of uniting and galvanizing the commitment required to confront today’s environmental issues. There is a rich evidence base for innovation, good practices of environmental protection and community-based natural resources management within Islamic jurisprudence. Islam prefers a low consumption economy where resources are conceptualized beyond their economic value and promotes small-scale, human-centered development that benefits local communities. Islam also envisages an egalitarian society with minimal socio-economic disparity. The Islamic societal model not only provides an alternative narrative to capitalism, but a framework that is arguably more aligned to sustainable development. Through its doctrines, Islam constructs a social behavior that is consistent with sustainable development in ways capitalist consumerism is not.

The traditional concept of al-hima is undoubtedly one of the most important conservation practices of Islam. By understanding the ecosystem as one integral unit comprising socio-economic, ecological and governance dimensions, al-hima elaborates the Islamic notion of co-existence and harmony. The concept enshrines the Islamic notion of social justice since it aims to uphold the public interest and requires that resources are used equitably and distributed fairly. Moreover, the operating modalities and purpose of al-hima can be seen as balancing public and private interests and weighing costs or injuries against benefits. In short, economic activity is facilitated, but unbridled economic growth where the poor are vulnerable to exploitation, is discouraged.

Three key principles underpin the relationship between al-hima and Islam. First, it must benefit all levels of society, not just a certain class or family. Any monopoly on a resource or good is prohibited. This is consistent with the Islamic principle that every human is entitled to access a share of the earth's sustenance. Second, the concept entails a social contract based on mutual respect for the environment, co-existence, eco-system balance and public interest. Ecological degradation is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, al-hima operates through public participation, social learning and consensus. Third, Islam contributes an ethical dimension to the concept of al-hima. It allows individuals to profit or benefit as long as rules that prevent injustice and detriment to others are followed. This contextualized the notion of public goods that are co-managed by the local community.

As a conceptual framework, al-hima is an invigorating injection to mainstream sustainable development models and IWRM, because it operates in ways that do not undermine the end goal: a livable and balanced human environment with a sustainable resource management, and where water is not scarce.
Three points constitute necessary actions. First, scholars of Islamic jurisprudence must interpret the legal sources of Islam to articulate rules and norms for environmental policies that conform to the objectives of Islamic law. Using the concept of al-hima seems rather uncontroversial in this regard. Second, new ways of financing sustainable development need to complement today’s insufficient investment. Contempo¬rary Islamic finance institutions should be encouraged to include environmental protection and resource sustainability within their mandates by issuance of Islamic bonds (sukuk) that meet green standards and managing trust funds (waqf) for sustainable development or resource conservation. Third, a mobilization and engagement strategy must be developed to introduce a pathos of environmental consciousness among the region’s resource stakeholders. A charter for regional environmentalism should be drafted and implemented in response to this.
There is a reason why astronomers look for water on Mars; water is the most important source of life – if there is water, there can be life. The most recent report of IPCC sets forth very clearly that humans are causing climate change. Humans are the ones that have made water an endangered substance, and this is painfully evident in WANA. Here, we need a new framework to understand how to treat the most precious finite resource there is: water. Islam perceives humans and the ecosystem as integral parts of the same universe; humans, animals, insects, plant life, earth, water, air and imperceptible creatures are interconnected. A sustainable development narrative based on Islamic jurisprudence can balance individual rights against collective rights, including those pertaining to the non-living components of nature, such as the atmosphere, finite resources and future generations. As such, the concept of al-hima provides this framework that can guide the people of WANA to water secure lives.