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Discussion
of Case Study Themes
At
a Glance
Desert conditions dominate the landscapes of both Egypt
and Oman. Nearly all of the five percent of Egyptian
land that is arable lies along the Nile River. Both
states depend on their natural resources. Egypt's development
is tied to a fluctuating water source. Oman is planning
beyond its finite oil reserves. The focus of long-term
national planning is taking the form of construction
projects in Egypt and education in Oman.
Case
Study 1 -- Egypt: Gift of the Nile
Too
Many People and Too Little Arable Land
Sixty-eight million people crowd on five percent of
Egypt's total land area. In 1800, there was one acre
of land for each person, and in 1900, there was half
of an acre per person. Now there is less than one-eighth
of an acre -- less than six hundred square yards --
per person. Egypt is running out of arable land to
feed its population.
The
Water Resources of the Nile are Truly a Gift
The White Nile's headwaters rise in Uganda and flow
through Sudan to Khartoum where it meets the Blue
Nile waters from Ethiopia. The longest river in the
world, the Nile completes its 4,145 mile journey north
to the Mediterranean Sea beyond Cairo where it forms
a 115 mile delta. Silt deposited by the Nile's annual
overflow has brought agricultural prosperity throughout
Egypt's history. Since the early 1960s, the river
has been harnessed by the Aswan High Dam to provide
constant irrigation.
By
the time construction of the dam was complete, the
main purpose of the dam's regulation was to irrigate
more land and to extend the benefits of irrigation
to new land. Since then, the controlled water supply
has allowed for more than one crop per year, and less
time between harvests has increased the food supply.
Reclaimed desert land has put over a million and half
acres into agricultural production.
Egyptian
National Planning Must Balance Food and Housing Needs
As the desert bloomed, migration to the Nile Valley
boomed to more than 5,500 inhabitants per square mile.
But at the same time, cities have grown and taken
more than a million acres of prime riverside and delta
land out of agricultural production.
Urbanization
-- the building of centralized services and housing
-- is one way to provide for the burgeoning population.
New towns are planned for self sufficiency. Small
industries are enticed through tax incentives to start
up near new housing projects. Plans to distribute
the population growth are made with an eye to water
conservation. A light industry worker is expected
to use less water in the city than he did as a fellaheen,
or farmer. In this way, concentrating people in urban
areas spares the elixir of the desert.
Though
water reserves are creating more farmland, the marginal
soils of this newly irrigated land yield a low production.
At the same time, the cities built under the water
resource management plan have actually been built
over some high-production fertile soils, unintentionally
offsetting the agricultural gain provided by the Aswan
Dam's regulation of the Nile.
Case
Study 2 -- Oman: Looking Beyond Oil
Modernizing
the Labor Force in Oman
When oil was discovered in the Arabian Peninsula,
imported labor was relied on to help extract this
export commodity. Expatriates, or guest workers, flooded
into Oman in the mid-1960s to fill positions in this
new industry in which the domestic population was
not trained.
Oil
was not only a new industry, but the only industry
for several decades. Now that oil money has transformed
their society, Omanis are preparing for work in the
developing sectors of their modernized economy. Vocational
training from office work to welding is the first
step to reaching the goals set forth by Omanization,
a policy to replace a large percentage of the 600,000
guest workers, in a variety of fields, with Omani
men and women.
The
Sultan's Vision For a New Oman
Sultan Qaboos took over a poor and undeveloped country
from his father in 1970. He decided to use the money
from oil to "bring the people from darkness of
the past into a new future." The first immediate
change was a nationwide educational program that included
women. Education is the cornerstone of the Omanization
policy for domestic worker development, which in turn
promotes the diversification of the economy.
Developing
New Resources for the Future
The sultan's plans for economic diversification are
driven by the realization that oil reserves are a
finite resource. Oil revenues are being reinvested
in fisheries, mineral mining, agriculture, and human
resources.
A
hundred miles southeast of Muscat, the capital city,
a modern fishing industry is under development. Fishing
has always been the main occupation in this area,
but a new road to Muscat and its international airport
now provides opportunities for the fishermen to find
extended markets. Future plans include government
investment in new harbors, cold storage, and processing
facilities.
Another
sector being developed is that of high-end tourism.
Oman wishes to attract wealthy Europeans and have
built luxurious accommodations. However, the tourist
industry faces difficulty, as many perceive Oman to
be located in a dangerous part of the world. Oman
also faces competition in many other sectors from
its neighbor Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
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