Comparative Study of Environmental Institutional Framework and Setup in the GCC States

Abstract

Establishing environmental institutions will aid in providing effective responses on any changes in the status of environment by improving the current policies by having solid management strategies to combat environmental degradation. All the six member countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have established similar environmental institutional bodies that serve with the mandate of conserving and protecting the environment. Degrees of implementation, wealth, state of environment reporting and strategic planning are varying and closer inspection has to be done. Institutionalization in GCC states has to be promoted to cover major framework of sustainable development strategies. This will guarantee the use-effectiveness of those polices and other environmental management tools to ensure sustainable development of the natural resources. This paper attempts to list and examine the current status of all GCC country’s environment institutional framework and setup through comparison of the available information, highlighting the achievement of some and providing some guidance for others on how it could be enhanced.