The environmental crisis in the WANA region is both evidenced and broadly admitted. Competition for water is now a flashpoint for unrest; water and soil pollution, coupled with climate change and land degradation, means that food security is a growing concern; and pollution and unsafe waste disposal have consequences for health, urban poverty and reduced productivity.

There is an urgent need to balance environmental programming goals with quality and equality of access. HIMA, community-based natural resource management techniques enshrined in Islamic traditions, is a framework for better understanding and responding to such challenges. While research has been undertaken in this area, little progress has been made in developing models and practical frameworks for the realisation of the HIMA concept.