Environmental planning issue in Saudi Arabia

Literature Review1

Overview of environmental issues1

Impact of human activities leading to environmental issues3

Efforts to overcome environmental problems5

Impact of Climate Change8

Impact of Flood10

Jeddah Floods11

Impact of infrastructure13

Storm water management14

Sewage management15

Government efforts for solving environmental problems16

Efforts for overcoming environmental issues18

References20

Environmental planning issue in Saudi Arabia

Literature Review

The literature review of the study will discuss the environmental planning issues in Saudi Arabia. In addition, it will also discuss the impact of climate change and human activities on environment. Saudi Arabia is one of the most influential and conservative Islamic countries in the Middle East. The country possesses vast oil reserves, which are the foundation of its strong and prosperous economy. Currently ruled by the Al Saud dynasty, the Arab nation adheres to a strict form of Islamic Religious Fundamentalism. Saudi Arabia makes up four fifths of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. It is the third largest country on the continent. It is bordered on the north by Jordan and Iraq, on the east by Kuwait, the Persian Gulf, and the United Arab Emirates, on the south by Oman and Yemen, and on the west by the Red Sea. The northern part of the country is covered in mountains, and the center is home to a large plateau, but most of the nation is uninhabited desert. The climate is harsh and dry with frequent dust and sandstorms (Trenberth, Rasmussen, Parsons, 2003).

Overview of environmental issues

There are many environmental problems which affect the world. These include financial crisis, energy crises, the future climate crisis, ecological crisis and the global recession in the world all these factors are interconnected and interrelated and the way of facing them successfully is through combined solution. There are particular problems on the regional, local and global scale which should be addressed and require proper planning, policies and management. The environmental planning issues include integrated land use, natural resource management and planning, risk analysis, strategic and environmental impact assessment, regional and urban environmental planning and sustainable green use. Environmental issues are concerned with human actions that affect the biosphere that humans and other species inhabit. Interest in the conservation of particular species, habitats, or landscapes, in particular localities or countries, dates back to the 19th century, but a concern with international environmental issues that transcend national boundaries may be dated back to the beginning of the 1970s (Massa, 1996).

The European Conservation Year in 1970, the first Earth Day in 1970, and the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, which initiated the UN Environmental Programme, raised and focused the level of awareness and interest. A number of institutional developments also took place around this time. The Environmental Protection Agency in the United States was established in 1970, as was the Department of the Environment in the United Kingdom. In the European Community, the 1972 Paris summit of heads of government called on the Commission to draw up an environmental policy and set up a directorate responsible for environmental ...