Uso de Plantas Medicinales

As stated earlier, I think it is really important to also evaluate the opinions and future visions of the experts in the region. In order to do so, I asked several experts on the region on their opinion. These experts are not necessarily environmental experts, but also for example regional entrepreneurs and scholars from other fields. Unfortunately, the interviews I initially intended to perform with experts in the field were not as successful as I hoped. I wrote to a lot of different persons but almost none of them responded in time to be able to have an in-depth interview. That is why I will not only focus on them, but in addition also analyse some of the

115 _{Saima Munawwar and Hosni Ghedira, “A review of renewable energy and solar industry growth in the GCC}

region,” 3199.

116 _{Ibid., 3200.} 117 _Ibid.

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expert visions brought forward by divers media outlets and scholars that express their vision in their research.

A Dutch government official was also part of the group I contacted, he states that he does not expect renewable energy to replace oil in the rentier state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Rather, he expects it to be a start of a more diversified Saudi Arabian economy and states that renewable energy projects, together with other social economical changes, could lead to a significant change in the way the Kingdom of Saudi Arabian is built up. He does not, however, foresee the rentier state to seize to exist, but that by certain reforms already taking place today, it will be able to sustain in the future.

When analysing the media reports on renewable energy projects, some experts state that they expect the future plans of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be successful. Rabia Ferroukhi, head of the International Renewable Energy Agency, even states that the “regulatory environment is well established now to conduct auctions and attract investors.”118 This contradicts the Vision 2030 opinion, since they aim on adjusting the regulatory system just so they can attract the private sector in order to invest in the renewable energy sector. Something that confirms the vision of Ferroukhi, however, is the simple fact that foreign investors are already making investments and setting up projects that are not executed yet, but have great potential to be realized.119 This would mean that the current rentier state is already compatible with the renewable energy developments and that renewable energy projects would not affect the rentier state in a negative sense on the field of regulatory measurements. Another expert, Paddy Padmanathan, who is chief executive of ACWA Power, even states that, even though the renewable energy market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is small, he foresees a large increase in the development of renewable energy projects. In order for this increase, he does not argue that the rentier state itself should change, rather that the energy authorities should become comfortable with the renewable energy projects.120

Not every opinion spread in the media agrees with these positive expectations, that the rentier state does not need to change in order to have the renewable energy projects being

implemented. Marcel van der Steen and Paul Aarts, for example, argue that renewable energy

118 _{Dania Saadi, “Saudi leads renewable energy with 7bn in new tenders,” The National, June 23, 2018,}

https://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/saudi-leads-renewable-energy-developments-with-7bn-in-new- tenders-1.743124.

119 _Ibid.

120 _{Stanley Reed, ‘From Oil to Solar: Saudi Arabia Plots a Shift to Renewables,” New York Times, February 2,}

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is an unescapable phenomenon for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that reforms have to be made in order to make the renewable energy projects work. They argue that the days where rentierism flourished will be over and Aarts tops this with the claim that the economy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should be completely restructured.121 Charles Kestenbaum and James Durso argue that the renewable energy plans are a change, but they are intended to keep things the way they are: “If we want things to stay the way they are, things will have to change”.122 _{They state that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia only sets up these plans in order to}

make sure that the rentier state exists in its current setup as long as possible. This does mean that even they do not think that renewable energy projects threaten the rentier state, but rather that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will shape the renewable energy projects in such a way that the rentier state will not suffer from any negative consequences. Thomas Lippman even argues that plans like Vision 2030 mean the end of the rentier state as we have known as the Saudi Arabian people “are being asked to do more for themselves while the government does less, regardless of the price of oil.”123 _{He further elaborates on his expectations that the plans}

of Vision 2030 will never be fully executed and cites others who argue the same. The fact that there were many earlier plans that were never implemented, among others, leads him to this conclusion.

Besides experts that come forward in the media, scholars also express certain expectations in their work that show their view on the influence of renewable energy on the rentier state. Hertog, for example, states that the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia causes the state not to be able to reform.124 _{This would mean that unless the whole structure of the state}

would change, the reforms will simply not be able to be implemented in the state. Others, such as Munawwar and Ghedira, come forward with an analysis of the previous developments and set out the points where improvement is needed. They do not fully deem it to be

impossible for the rentier state to develop renewable energy projects, they do, however, link some key aspects of the rentier state system to the difficulties of implementing renewable energy projects. One of these is the fact that the subsidising of fossil fuels should be

121 _{Sheily Belhaj, “Saudi-Arabië van conservatieve moslimmacht naar wereldse Golfstaat: wat zit erachter?”}

NOS, October 30, 2017, https://nos.nl/artikel/2200546-saudi-arabie-van-conservatieve-moslimmacht-naar- wereldse-golfstaat-wat-zit-erachter.html.

122 _{Charles Kestenbaum and James Durso, “Is the $4 Trillion Saudi Reform Plan Inspired By China?” January}

29, 2017. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-The-4-Trillion-Saudi-Reform-Plan-Inspired-By- China.html.

123 _{Thomas Lippman, “Saudi Arabia’s Glass: Half Empty Or Half Full?” Lobe Log, December 5, 2018,}

https://lobelog.com/saudi-arabias-glass-half-empty-or-half-full/.

124 _{Steffen Hertog, Princes, Brokers, and Bureaucrats : Oil and the State in Saudi Arabia (Cornell University}

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shortened.125 _{Considering the fact that the rentier state uses subsidies and the export of these}

fossil fuels as measurement to sustain the state, it becomes evident that the rentier state as we have known should, according to them, be at least slightly adjusted in order to make

renewable energy projects successful.

125 _{Saima Munawwar and Hosni Ghedira, “A review of renewable energy and solar industry growth in the GCC}

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