J. M. Bryden

New approaches to economic development in peripheral rural regions

Abstract This paper explores new approaches to economic development in peripheral regions in the context of constraints on public expenditure, declining employment in traditional natural resource based industries, and globalisation of the economy. Three conceptual pairs ‐resource mobility and immobility; tangible and intangible factors; and global‐local interrelations — underpin three ideas about these new approaches, and their impact on differential economic performance observed in otherwise similar localities and regions. A case study is given to illustrate the role played by less mobile cultural, social and environmental assets in these strategies. However, a key feature of the cases is the importance of both local and extra‐local linkages, often at international level, whether this has to do with market or non‐market activity. The conclusions raise questions for research about the root causes of differences in economic performance between rural localities, whether local initiatives will suffice to counter further likely declines in public subventions and natural resource based employment and also about the focus of policy in such regions.

Water, Energy, and Food in the Arab Region: Challenges and Opportunities, with Special Emphasis on Renewable Energy in Food Production

The Arab Region has the world’s greatest deficit of water and arable land. These shortages are being exacerbated by climate change, land degradation, growth in population, urbanization, and incomes. Although having apparently abundant fossil based energy resources, the demands of desalination and air conditioning have increased with income and population growth, and some Arab oil producers are forecasting a potential future decline in net oil exports. Renewable Energy (RE) is therefore seen as an opportunity in the region. In particular, the richer Arab countries plan RE for desalinization, providing domestic drinking water, as well as water for irrigated farming systems, while nearly all have now set ambitious targets for RE. However, RE has yet to provide cheap energy; desalinated water is expensive, and water is in increasing demand for direct human use in the region’s growing cities; desalination itself has polluting residues; the choice of technologies for RE production is limited by the context; and the technologies are usually expensive to implement. Social, economic, and political obstacles around access to water, energy, and food add to the environmental and technological challenges. Yet the region has significant clusters of wealth and human talent, and there are increased efforts to understand and tackle the various challenges. There are opportunities for innovation, manufacturing, and export in RE. There are also important opportunities to develop better understanding of the institutions and governance around policies and innovation systems that help to determine who gets access to water, land, and energy, and under what terms.