Image used for representation only.
As countries in the Middle East take on climate change and environmental challenges, engineers must change their mindsets and adopt new strategies to contribute to building a more sustainable region.
In an interview with The Peninsula, Dr. Samer Fikry, Professor and Scientist of Mechanical Engineering at QU’s College of Engineering, said engineers are increasingly required to lead in sustainable development, overcoming global challenges, such as depletion of resources and environmental pollution.
“In most of the Middle East region, engineering achievements were developed without considering their impact on social, economic, and environmental natural systems,” Dr. Fikry said.
“Considering the problems facing the Middle East today, and the problems expected to arise in the first half of the twenty-first century, engineers must revisit their mindset and adopt a new mission statement - to contribute to building a more sustainable, stable, and equitable region.”
Sustainable engineering is designing products and processes that drive material and energy efficiencies to minimise environmental impact while cutting costs. In the region, it is apparent today that policymakers implement sustainability-friendly policies and ensure these standards are implemented into development strategies.
According to experts, the Middle East is warming twice the rest of the world. Besides, the region’s biggest economies rely heavily on industry and refining, which are difficult to decarbonise. Experts have warned that the average annual global temperature must be kept from lingering at or above 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most catastrophic and long-term effects of climate change.
The hot and arid climate also means people must adopt technologies to survive the heat, leading to higher use of air conditioners and other energy-expensive devices. However, most countries in the region, especially Qatar, have shown actions and pledges to cut carbon emissions in the future and promote eco-friendly buildings, conservation of scarce resources, sustainable transportation and sustainable food security models.
Dr. Fikry noted that for engineers to drive sustainable change, they must adopt a completely different attitude towards natural and cultural systems and reconsider interactions between engineering disciplines, non-technical fields and society.
Despite sustainability being a collective responsibility, engineers are responsible for designing the product. They influence what goes into it and how it’s built, operated, disposed of, or recycled.
“We must adopt a more holistic engineering approach. This will require a major paradigm shift from control of nature to participation with nature; an awareness of ecosystems, ecosystems services, and the preservation and restoration of natural capital; and a new mindset of the mutual enhancement of nature and humans that embraces the principles of sustainable development,” he stressed.
