Abstract

The Arab Gulf states face severe challenges—exacerbated by climate change and environmental degradation—that frequently compromise regional security. These states find themselves in a dilemma: balancing the preservation of their prosperity with the need to adapt to the climate crisis. They are responding increasingly actively to the crisis through national sustainability strategies, investments in renewable energy, the expansion of research capacities, and technological development. While these measures are essential adaptation strategies for securing prosperity, supply security, and geopolitical influence, they also harbor significant potential for conflict: they alter power dynamics, generate social tensions, and shift discourses surrounding legitimacy, justice, and security.

This project bridges actor-centered research on climate and environmental change with peace and conflict studies, thereby filling a critical research gap. A notable void exists regarding the Arab Gulf states: there is a lack of analytical examination of the actors producing knowledge in this field, as well as a lack of research discussing climate and sustainability policy within the context of peace and security. Furthermore, the tension between knowledge producers and state decision-making processes remains largely unexplored in the realm of climate research. The planned project addresses these gaps by analyzing the groups of actors who generate knowledge and help shape negotiation processes in the climate and environmental sectors. It aims to examine how these knowledge producers foster integrative and conflict-sensitive research approaches—thereby expanding scientific dialogue and networking among themselves and with external knowledge actors outside the Gulf region (e.g., in Asia and Africa) to develop new forms of cooperation and solutions for sustainable conflict transformation—while also identifying the constraints to which they are subject. The study examines the extent to which knowledge producers in the Arab Gulf states—despite being situated within authoritarian contexts—are able and permitted to focus on themes of environmental peacebuilding, thereby establishing knowledge networks within the framework of the “Global South.”

To this end, an actor-centered approach is adopted: research institutions—such as universities, research institutes, and think tanks—in four selected Gulf monarchies (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman) are contextualized within the political landscape of knowledge production, and their roles regarding the adoption of adaptation strategies are analyzed. The multi-stage research design investigates actors across the fields of environment, migration, gender, and geopolitics, comprising: (1) access to the networks of research institutions based in the Gulf states; (2) semi-structured expert interviews with representatives from these institutions; (3) workshops to foster networking among regional actors; (4) the contextualization of findings within political power structures; and (5) an analysis of the potential for interregional knowledge exchange.

Knowledge production regarding climate and sustainability policy—which is largely state-controlled—plays a pivotal role in the Arab Gulf states. Research institutes, think tanks, and universities act as intermediaries, translators, and sources of legitimacy for these adaptation strategies. Consequently, their research and work influence political strategies and measures to address the climate crisis; while they often produce knowledge at the behest of political actors, they are also capable of setting their own agendas. Through their knowledge production, they can promote peace-building narratives or reinforce existing power asymmetries, all while operating within a complex context characterized by, at times, restricted spaces for academic inquiry and policy shaping. Against this backdrop, the project examines these dynamics from the perspective of peace and conflict studies. It analyzes how knowledge regarding climate and sustainability emerges and is politically framed within authoritarian contexts, and how it contributes to either resolving or exacerbating conflicts related to adaptation. The aim is thus to establish a scientific foundation that helps to better understand the heterogeneous and opaque landscape of actors involved in climate and sustainability research in the Arab Gulf states, as well as to deconstruct their roles and motivations within an authoritarian political context.