Quality of Life: Getting Work Done through Sustainability

By Manishankar Prasad,

​Date of Publication: 21 March, 2020

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Sustainability is front and centre of the global conversations on development and modernity. With climate emergencies and disrupted supply chains due to blockades, trade wars and pandemics, sustainability is a charge term, with renewed vigour and valency. Sustainability has a rich genealogy in the multilateral sphere of institutions with the Brundtland Commission defining the intergenerational responsibilities undergirding sustainability. The Kyoto Protocol and the annual rituals of the COP each year are cornerstones of international climate governance. The Paris COP was a cornerstone in a two-degree world, shaping the climate agenda.

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The over-arching meta narrative of global sustainability is juxtaposed with everyday consumer environmentalism where plastic bags are passé. Everyday environmental consciousness is the low hanging fruit in the sustainability spectrum. The substitution of plastic with reusables, or ‘plastic straw environmentalism’ is the quotidian articulation of green actions. Sustainability is about the local, the everyday micro decisions which we take.  Sustainability is contextual, cultural and collaborative. Small actions such as recycling and water saving actions have consequences on the wallet in the era where subsides are shaved off, in the neoliberal times we inhabit.

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Sustainability is more than an understanding in the climate era, it is a cognitive compass for action. The intersectionalities of water, energy, food, health and work converge, when we frame sustainability, as a lever to live a better life. Sustainability needs education more than nominal environmental studies class in school, where we rote learn concepts. Nor is it with a pure tech play, where data drives discourse. The new sustainability imperative will require a deep understanding of culture and context. Our prior generations in Oman, leveraged natural ecosystems, resources and understood limitations to grow vegetables and date palm in the Ash Sharqiyah region on the foot of hills and oasis, where the resource commons were treated with great respect. The Falaj system, is an international case study in traditional water management literature. A trip to Wadi Tiwi near Sur would be a window into the wisdom of sustainability, a few decades before the term emerged in western academia.

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Oman is envisioning a future where oil would not drive its economy in a major way as it is now. A beautiful country with breath taking topographies. Sustainability will be key to retaining the ecosystem values which will enable that tourists who fly in from halfway across the globe will get their experience which one has seen through the incredible #ExperienceOman communications from the Ministry of Tourism.

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Oman needs to conserve water as it is a semi-arid region. The focus of sustainability in Oman will be on water, through technology available at a suitable price point and expert knowledge that can be efficiently implemented on ground. Sustainability needs to deliver at its pain point working with/through communities and institutions in a culture relevant manner.

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Yahya Engineering with its "glocal" approach brings a multidisciplinary perspective to solutions. If you feel we can have a chat regarding your firm’s sustainability pathway, please feel free to write in at manishankar@yahyaengineering.net.

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