The local business community was given the assurance that a “trade-off” will ensure “over-concern about the environment” will not be an obstacle to economic growth, as long as local ecosystems are preserved, the source added.Ī Royal Directive sent by Haitham to government officials in early 2021 clarified that economic development now tops the agenda by calling for financial sustainability and the urgency to attract foreign investments. “Every governorate will try to attract investors by being more creative in determining their own priorities and creating ecosystems conducive for investors,” a second source within Oman policymaking circles told Al-Monitor.
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Still, the implementation has been localized, thus allowing each governorate and free zones to consider the local context and adapt national policies “within reason.” This enables environmental rules to be more site-specific and introduces competition between regions.
New businesses in Oman that may have an environmental impact need to seek validation from the environmental regulator, which used to deny permits to any businesses causing untreatable damage to the environment.Įnvironmental policymaking is centralized in Oman’s capital, Muscat.
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“The environmental legislation is still in place, but with a rush to create jobs, environmental regulators are far more industry compliant,” Prasad said, about the speed at which investors get their environmental registration approved. Busaidi told Al-Monitor the focus might have “shifted,” but environmental protection is not expected to “fall as something that is not important at all.” We need to make sure the economic wellness of the country also is taking care of,” said Rumaitha Al Busaidi, executive board director at the Environment Society of Oman (ESO), a Muscat-based nongovernmental organization that protects Oman's natural heritage and promotes environmentally sustainable behaviors. “There are so many competing concerns at the moment. The environment portfolio is now in the hands of the Environment Authority, a “toothless and powerless” state agency with “limited powers and limited fundings”, a source close to Oman policy-making circles told Al-Monitor.Īlthough the situation has improved since 2020 when the budget deficit skyrocketed, Oman still expects a deficit equivalent to 5% of its gross domestic product in 2022 that will be covered by domestic and international borrowings and withdrawal from state reserves. In 2020, Sultan Haitham dissolved the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, which was represented at the Council of Ministers. The voice of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs and the Office for Conservation of Environment at the Diwan of Royal Court long had significant weight in the country, and businesses violating environmental regulations risked heavy penalties or being shut down.īut economic hardship and high budget deficit put this environmental commitment to the test. Under the Basic Statute of the State, Oman’s constitution, environmental conservation and pollution prevention are considered the state’s responsibility. Qaboos bin Said Al Said, ruler of Oman from 1970 until his death in 2020, set up the Gulf region’s first office for environmental protection in 1974, as well as the first Ministry for the Environment in 1984. Most investors in Oman are not billion-dollar firms, right? They are small investors from neighboring countries and are not interested in stringent environmental legislation,” said Manishankar Prasad, an Indian consultant who advised Oman’s environmental authorities and free zones during the Sultan Qaboos and Sultan Haitham eras. “Investors have historically complained that Oman's environmental regulatory architecture is draconian.
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