Environmentalism in Qatar: examining the influence of Islamic ethics on environmental thought and practice
Keywords: environmentalism
Muslim
governance
water
culture
nature
eco-theology
power
petroleum
neoliberalism
ecology
GCC
Middle East
sea level rise
natural gas
climate change
Arab Gulf
market
Qatar
activism
pollution
Hadith
Qur'an
NGOs
renewable energy
botanic gardens
hydrocarbons
Islamic ethics
biodiversity loss

This thesis examines environmental discourses of state and non-state actors in Qatar, with a particular focus on how Islamic ethical values and teachings influence environmental thought and practice. Aside from its economic value as a leading liquid natural gas exporter, Qatar holds significant status as one of the most affluent Arab Muslim states vying for political and economic power regionally and globally while facing numerous environmental vulnerabilities (e.g., water scarcity, rising temperatures, air/water pollution, desertification, biodiversity loss, and sea level rise). Despite its constitutional identity as an Arab Muslim country, gaping rifts exist between Qatar’s interest in preserving its cultural, religious, and natural heritage on one hand, and its environmental realities and practices on the other.
This study investigates the apparent disconnect between state aspirations and industrial/energy praxis causing or exacerbating regional/global environmental risks and social inequities—especially between wealthy Qataris and migrant laborers. Utilizing an environmental governance framework and critical discourse analysis, this research unveils power asymmetries between state and non-state actors in Qatar and elucidates the ways in which non-state actors struggle to access environmental data, establish non-governmental organizations free from strict government oversight, and mobilize to resist the hegemony of state and corporate powers. This study also demonstrates how state authorities and their corporate allies adopt predominately technocratic and market-based approaches to resolving environmental problems and maintain control over environmental discourses and decisions while actively depoliticizing climate discourses. In aiming to bridge theoretical religious ideals with environmental practice, this research also investigates reasons why Islamic environmentalism does not feature more prominently in the country. Although some state-sponsored environmental initiatives inspired by religious values and teachings have yielded educational, scientific, and charitable benefits, this study reveals how most environmental activism of non-state actors remains highly state-controlled, apolitical, areligious, and dominated by non-Arab expatriates—with minimal to no representation from Qatari citizens.
Based on these findings, this thesis argues that the rise of a successful and sustainable environmental movement in Qatar necessitates 1) greater contribution and public engagement from indigenous Qataris, 2) tactful and incremental politicization (particularly from citizens holding greater social/political influence than expatriates/migrants), 3) more intersectional approaches to tackling the country’s most pressing socio-environmental needs, and 4) greater synergistic collaboration between religious scholars, imams, and activists to advance ecological consciousness and environmental education based on Islamic ethical and scriptural paradigms echoing and bolstering noble Arab virtues. In centering the voices of indigenous, religious and non- state actors, this inter-/transdisciplinary research demonstrates the numerous ways in which environmental struggles to protect natural resources and habitats in an extractivist, monarchic Muslim state intersect with social struggles to secure people’s dignity, health, faith, and basic human rights.