On February 24, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Oman, forcing nationwide lockdowns and movement limitations. This study estimates the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on Oman's transportation sector's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Using a bottom-up methodology, this analysis compares the years preceding the pandemic (2015-2019) to the pandemic year (2020). According to the results, the implementation of COVID-19 lockdown measures significantly reduced GHG emissions from passenger vehicles by 26.4 % and 27.8 % from whole road transportation. The overall GHG reduction from whole road transportation in Oman during the pandemic year (2020) was estimated around 1,502 kilotons CO2eq. These reductions represent 17 % of the pledged of carbon reduction target in the Second Nationally Determined Contributions by 2030. These results highlight the possibility of achieving emission reduction goals through the adoption of remote work practices, which has contributed significantly to the decline in emissions during the pandemic. Remote work has the potential to reduce commuter trips, thereby reducing overall mobility and emissions, particularly in Oman, which lacks public transportation and relies heavily on private vehicles. The potential benefits of remote work in reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector should be carefully evaluated and encouraged by policymakers in order to help Oman achieve its climate goals.

This work examines the synthesis of a novel calcium rich biochar (MB -900) and its application for phosphorus (P) and amoxicillin removal from synthetic and treated urban wastewaters under static and dynamic conditions (laboratory column and continuous stirring tank reactors (CSTRs)). Characterization techniques show that MB900 has an enhanced structural, textural and surface chemical properties. Besides, batch adsorption tests indicate that MB -900 has important P recovery capacity in comparison with various engineered biochars available in the literature. Furthermore, under dynamic conditions, MB -900 efficiently recovers P from both synthetic solutions and real wastewater effluent. Due to a higher residence time, P recovery in CSTR mode are 94.9 and 82.3 mg g-1 for synthetic and urban wastewater, respectively. These values are 1.4, and 6.1 times higher than those obtained in column tests. Mechanism investigations shows that P recovery occurs through electrostatic interactions, complexation, and especially precipitation as hydroxyapatite. Under column and CSTR modes, AMX behaves like a conservative tracer and was not adsorbed by MB -900. Therefore, the resulting P-loaded biochar can be applied in agriculture as a slow release fertilizer without risks related to AMX adsorption/leaching by plants.

Mangroves in Southeast Asia provide numerous supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that are crucial to the environment and local livelihoods since they support biodiversity conservation and climate change resilience. However, Southeast Asia mangroves face deforestation threats from the expansion of commercial aquaculture, agriculture, and urban development, along with climate change-related natural processes. Ecotourism has gained prominence as a financial incentive tool to support mangrove conservation and restoration. Through a systematic literature review approach, we examined the relationships between ecotourism and mangrove conservation in Southeast Asia based on scientific papers published from 2010 to 2022. Most of the studies were reported in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, respectively, which were associated with the highest number of vibrant mangrove ecotourism sites and largest mangrove areas compared to the other countries of Southeast Asia. Mangrove-related ecotourism activities in the above countries mainly include boat tours, bird and wildlife watching, mangrove planting, kayaking, eating seafood, and snorkeling. The economic benefits, such as an increase in income associated with mangrove ecotourism, have stimulated infrastructural development in ecotourism destinations. Local communities benefited from increased access to social amenities such as clean water, electricity, transportation networks, schools, and health services that are intended to make destinations more attractive to tourists. Economic benefits from mangrove ecotourism motivated the implementation of several community-based mangrove conservation and restoration initiatives, which attracted international financial incentives and public-private partnerships. Since mangroves are mostly located on the land occupied by indigenous people and local communities, ensuring respect for their land rights and equity in economic benefit sharing may increase their intrinsic motivation and participation in mangrove restoration and conservation initiatives. Remote sensing tools for mangrove monitoring, evaluation, and reporting, and integrated education and awareness campaigns can ensure the long-term conservation of mangroves while sustaining ecotourism's economic infrastructure and social amenities benefits.

In the last few decades, revegetation strategies for ecosystem restoration have received great attention in dryland studies, especially those related to the restoration and revegetation of native desert plants to combat land degradation. Long-term monitoring and assessment are critical for the restoration programs to track the progress of the restoration program goals. The effectiveness and success of monitoring depend on the selected methods with respect to spatial and temporal scales. Traditional methods for vegetation monitoring are time-consuming, expensive, and require considerable labor efforts (manpower) in terms of field measurements, collecting samples, lab analysis, and the difficulty of accessing some study areas. Thus, satellite remote sensing images have been widely used to monitor land degradation and restoration programs using multispectral and hyperspectral sensors and indices such as NDVI, which is the most popular index for vegetation monitoring. However, such techniques showed many limitations when used in arid ecosystems, especially for seasonal vegetation assessments, which could mislead the monitoring and assessment of the restoration projects. This paper discusses lessons learned from previous research work, including the limitations of using satellite remote sensing in arid ecosystems and the use of UAV methods to overcome these issues and challenges to provide more accurate outcomes for seasonal assessment of vegetation in arid landscapes.

This article gives a thorough analysis of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the fishing industry of Oman, giving essential background statistics and information. The study’s main objective is to quantify GHG emissions and carbon intensity in order to create a benchmark for monitoring and putting mitigation measures in place. The research analyzes the period from 2015 to 2020 and calculates a total GHG emission for the sector of roughly 1529.50 kt CO2-eq by 2020, with an average carbon emission intensity of 1.95 kg CO2-eq per kilogram of landed fish. This study underscores the significant GHG emissions in Oman’s fisheries sector and emphasizes the necessity of implementing mitigation measures to decrease carbon intensity. It provides insightful suggestions for potential mitigation measures that can be adopted in Oman, considering the specific characteristics of its artisanal-dominated fisheries sector. The suggested measures encompass the implementation of a Fuel Consumption Monitoring Program, the promotion of behavioral changes to save fuel, and overcoming obstacles to facilitate their adoption. Furthermore, optimizing fishing boat and vessel operations and enhancing fuel efficiency are integral components. The findings of this study provide valuable policy insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers committed to attaining carbon neutrality and sustainability in the fisheries industry. These perspectives include the implementation of a Comprehensive Fisheries Management Policy, a Fuel Consumption Monitoring and Behavior Changes Policy, Fisheries Subsidy Reform, and a Carbon Reduction Target and Roadmap Policy. These policies, when implemented, will contribute to the overarching objective of reducing carbon emissions, enhancing fisheries management practices, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the sector.

In the chemical industry and in the manufacturing sector, the adsorption properties of porous materials have been proven to be of great interest for the removal of impurities from liquid and gas media. While it is acknowledged that significant progress and literature production have been developed in this field, there have been adsorption studies that failed to further advance our knowledge in generating a better understanding of the prevailing sorption types and dominant adsorption processes. Therefore, this review study has focused on porous materials, their sorption types and their adsorption properties, further investigating the adsorption properties of porous materials at either solid–gas and solid–liquid interfaces, underscoring both the properties of the materials, the characterization and the correlation between the porosity and the adsorption capacity, as well as the emergent interactions between the adsorbent and adsorbate molecules, including the adsorption mechanisms, the types of sorption and the kinetic and thermodynamic information conveyed.

Oman's wind system is associated with a long coastal line and huge uninhabited area, contributing efficiently to the future renewable energy mix. Wind speed analysis from the country's meteorological stations reveals a significant potential for wind energy in southern Oman, specifically in the Governorate of Dhofar. The plateau of Thumrait in the southern part of Oman is confirmed as an excellent location for wind farms. Oman's coastal area has substantial wind power, mainly along the south coast of Oman around Al Hallaniyah Island. The potential of wind power around Al Hallaniyah Island is 1.34 times compared to the onshore potential of the Thumrait plateau. The first fully commercial wind farm in Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was operated in the first quarter of 2020, with a capacity of 50 MW. It is projected that Dhofar's wind farm will expand 50 MW per year, reaching a total capacity of 250 MW by 2024. The Oman renewable energy plan envisaged a second large-scale commercial wind farm project of 300 MW in the Governorate of Dhofar by 2024 under Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Two other wind farm projects are planned for the governorate of Al-Wusta in Jaalan Bani Bu Ali (200 MW by 2023) and the emerging city of Duqm (400 MW by 2024). This will lift Oman's total wind energy output to 1,150 MW producing 7.04 TWh of electricity per year in the next 5 years. The existing Oman IPP model for the electricity sector would facilitate the implementation of the planned wind power projects on time, despite the ongoing financial crisis resulting from volatility and declining oil prices from 2015 and the COVID 19 pandemic shutdown.

Mangrove forests in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are facing multiple threats from natural and anthropogenic-driven land use change stressors, contributing to altered ecosystem conditions. Remote sensing tools can be used to monitor mangroves, measure mangrove forest-and-tree-level attributes and vegetation indices at different spatial and temporal scales that allow a detailed and comprehensive understanding of these important ecosystems. Using a systematic literature approach, we reviewed 58 remote sensing-based mangrove assessment articles published from 2010 through 2022. The main objectives of the study were to examine the extent of mangrove distribution and cover, and the remotely sensed data sources used to assess mangrove forest/tree attributes. The key importance of and threats to mangroves that were specific to the region were also examined. Mangrove distribution and cover were mainly estimated from satellite images (75.2%), using NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) derived from Landsat (73.3%), IKONOS (15%), Sentinel (11.7%), WorldView (10%), QuickBird (8.3%), SPOT-5 (6.7%), MODIS (5%) and others (5%) such as PlanetScope. Remotely sensed data from aerial photographs/images (6.7%), LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) (5%) and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)/Drones (3.3%) were the least used. Mangrove cover decreased in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait between 1996 and 2020. However, mangrove cover increased appreciably in Qatar and remained relatively stable for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the same period, which was attributed to government conservation initiatives toward expanding mangrove afforestation and restoration through direct seeding and seedling planting. The reported country-level mangrove distribution and cover change results varied between studies due to the lack of a standardized methodology, differences in satellite imagery resolution and classification approaches used. There is a need for UAV-LiDAR ground truthing to validate country-and-local-level satellite data. Urban development-driven coastal land reclamation and pollution, climate change-driven temperature and sea level rise, drought and hypersalinity from extreme evaporation are serious threats to mangrove ecosystems. Thus, we encourage the prioritization of mangrove conservation and restoration schemes to support the achievement of related UN Sustainable Development Goals (13 climate action, 14 life below water, and 15 life on land) in the GCC countries.

The present research deals with the global challenge of managing industrial sludge with respect to sustainability and circular economy principles. It focuses on raw industrial sludge (IS-R) conversion into valuable biochars that can serve as efficient adsorbents for pharmaceuticals in industrial wastewater. Three biochars were produced through sludge pyrolysis at 750 degrees C either without modification (IS-R-B), or after pre-treatment with 1 M solution of ZnCl2 (IS-ZnCl2-B) or FeCl3 (IS-FeCl3-B). Compared to the pristine biochar, the modified sludge-derived biochars (SDBs) showed improved structural, textural, and surface chemical properties. As a result, ISZnCl2-B and IS-FeCl3-B had AMX adsorption capacities of 31.9 and 32.1 mg g-1 which were 41.2% and 42.0% higher than the non-modified biochar, respectively. Moreover, both modified SDBs effectively removed AMX under various experimental conditions, including the presence of competitive ions and over a wide pH range. The AMX removal was found to be spontaneous, endothermic, and primarily controlled by chemical reactions on a monolayer system. These findings suggest that biochars generated from pyrolysis of salt-modified industrial sludge can be used as effective materials for removing pharmaceuticals from water. Therefore, this study supports the concepts of circular economy and sustainable development by offering engineering solutions.

Over time, short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs) have gradually gained prominence as a rationale in the international global mitigation strategy to preserve temperature below 1.5 °C by the end of this century. Scientists cite the short-term gains in air quality and health co-benefits associated with reducing SLCFs as grounds for raising the pressure on governments to eliminate SLCFs rapidly and aggressively. There is little research on whether deep SLCF mitigation during the next decade is feasible in low- and middle-income nations, particularly the hydrocarbon-based economy. This study estimates current and future emissions of potent SLCFs as methane (CH4) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in Oman using the basic tier 1 approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) greenhouse gases (GHG) inventory Guidelines of 2006. Current and future emission of black carbon (BC) was also quantified using specific emission factors. A total of 38,268 Gg of SLFCs were released into the atmosphere in Oman in 2015, accounting for 38.8% of the country's total GHG emissions, and is expected to rise significantly over the next decade to reach 67,777 Gg by 2030. The analysis reveals that the source of Oman's highly potent SLCF emissions is associated with key and critical economic sectors such as the oil and gas industry, heavy road transportation, residential air conditioning (RAC), and industrial refrigeration. These vital economic sectors impose a "Grand Challenge" on the immediate reduction of SLCFs in Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Accomplishing a rapid, significant reduction in highly potent SLCFs from the three challenging sectors over a 5- to 10-year time period does not appear feasible or realistic in the context of international market mechanisms, socioeconomic factors, and mitigation targets. Achieving a significant reduction in SLCFs for a hydrocarbon-based economy requires a profound economic shift. Creating an effective long-term vision for a post-oil economy over the next two decades provides a sound foundation for implementing economic and societal transformation policies incorporating near-zero-emission measures for the potent SLCFs.

Fenton-based treatments have received tremendous attention in recent decades as viable strategies for soil decontamination. Historically contaminated soils are characterized by particular contamination types, pollution composition patterns, soil constituents, and complex soil-pollutant interactions arising due to long-term pollutant aging. These major pitfalls dictate the remediation efficiency in a significantly different way in soils with a history of contamination than that in a spiked soil. It becomes, therefore, highly challenging to treat historically contaminated soils. Despite the immense amount of collected research data in these soils, to our knowledge, no comprehensive review of this topic has been published. This article is intended to provide a critical review of the applications, limitations, and implications of various Fenton-based processes exclusively in these soils. These processes are differentiated on the basis of experimental conditions, reaction chemistry, efficiency, and impacts on soil biota. These processes are critically evaluated to illustrate the promising techniques with a brief description of related challenges and their potential solutions. Moreover, coupling Fenton oxidation with other remediation techniques such as bioremediation, chemical reduction, and soil washing has also been discussed. The last part of this review describes the effects of these processes onto soil quality and native biota, and how they can be addressed. It is also highly demanding to identify the processes which are not likely to evolve in practice either due to their poor efficiency, treatment cost, or environmental impacts. Future critical research directions have been identified to promote research for the upscaling of this technique for real field application.

During the last decade, biochars have been considered as attractive and eco-friendly materials with various applications including wastewater treatment, energy production and soil amendments. However, the important nitrogen losses during biochars production using the pyrolysis process have limited their potential use in agriculture as biofertilizer. Therefore, it seems necessary to enrich these biochars with nitrogen sources before their use in agricultural soils. This paper is the first comprehensive review on the assessment of biomass type and the biochars' properties effects on N recovery efficiency from aqueous solutions as well as its release and availability for plants when applying the N-enriched chars in soils. In particular, the N recovery efficiency by raw biochars versus the type of the raw feedstock is summarized. Then, correlations between the adsorption performance and the main physico-chemical properties are established. The main mechanisms involved during ammonium (NH4-N) and nitrates (NO3-N) recovery process are thoroughly discussed. A special attention is given to the assessment of the biochars physico-chemical modification impact on their N recovery capacities improvement. After that, the application of these N-enriched biochars in agriculture and their impacts on plants growth as well as methane and nitrous oxide greenhouse gas emissions reduction are also discussed. Finally, the main future development and challenges of biochars enrichment with N from wastewaters and their valorization as biofertilizers for plants growth and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction are provided. This systematic review is intended to promote the real application of biochars for nutrients recovery from wastewaters and their reuse as eco-friendly fertilizers.

This paper presents an in-depth characterization of a raw industrial sludge (IS-R) and its KOH-activated biochar pyrolyzed at 750 °C (IS-KOH-B) followed by their application to remove a cationic dye from aqueous solution. Materials characterization shows that compared to the IS-R, the IS-KOH-B has improved structural, textural, and surface chemical properties. In particular, the IS-KOH-B’s BET surface area and total pore volume are about 78 and 6 times higher than those found for the IS-R, respectively. The activated biochar efficiently retained the cationic dye under wide experimental conditions. Indeed, for an initial dye concentration of 50 mg L−1, removal yields were assessed to be more than 92.5%, 93.5%, and 97.8% for a large pH range (4–10), in the presence of high contents of competing cations (3000 mg L−1 of Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+), and a low used adsorbent dose (1 g L−1), respectively. The Langmuir’s adsorption capacities were 48.5 and 65.9 mg g−1 for of IS-R and IS-KOH-B, respectively, which are higher than those reported for various adsorbents in the literature. The dye removal was found to be monolayer, spontaneous, and endothermic for both the adsorbents. Moreover, this removal process seems to be controlled by chemical reactions for IS-KOH-B whereas by both physico–chemical reactions for IS-R. This study demonstrates that the raw industrial sludge and especially its KOH-activated derived biochar could be considered as promising adsorbents for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions.

Reckless construction and overextraction of resources have placed tremendous stress on the Sultanate of Oman's coastal ecosystems at Al-Batinah. The rate of sea level rise (SLR) intensifies under the multiple effects of environmental and social pressure. A projected 2 m SLR, for example, would inundate 200 km2 of land and impact the Sultanate's entire socioeconomic growth cycle and coastal ecology. The coastal land-use impacts, calculated through Landsat satellite images and census data, are used to explain the effect of SLR on coastal land uses and ecosystems. The Sultanate of Oman's comprehensive coastal zone management (CZM) planning and practices have limitations when seeking to reduce the burden on coastal system-linked socioeconomic growth and environmental issues. The study documented in this article addresses the challenges of the Sultanate's CZM practices and proposes an integrated coastal zone sustainability management framework.

In this work, the efficiency of date palm wastes derived biochar functionalized with Mg/Al layered double hydroxides (LDH) in removing phosphorus (P) from aqueous solutions was investigated under static and dynamic conditions. The deep characterization of the functionalized biochar showed that compared to raw biochar, its physico-chemical properties have been significantly improved. This improvement has resulted in a significant enhancement of P recovery from aqueous solutions under a wide experimental conditions of contact time, pH, doses, etc. The maximum adsorption capacity of P was estimated to be about 14.1 and more than 9.0 mg/g in batch and laboratory column modes. These P-loaded-modified biochars can be valorized as eco-friendly amendment for agricultural soils which promotes sustainability and circular economy concepts in the management of both liquid and solid wastes.

Despite the long shoreline of Oman, the wind energy industry is still confined to onshore due to the lack of knowledge about offshore wind potential. A spatial-temporal wind data analysis is performed in this research to find the locations in Oman's territorial seas with the highest potential for offshore wind energy. Thus, wind data are statistically analyzed for assessing wind characteristics. Statistical analysis of wind data include the wind power density, and Weibull scale and shape factors. In addition, there is an estimation of the possible energy production and capacity factor by three commercial offshore wind turbines suitable for 80 up to a 110 m hub height. The findings show that offshore wind turbines can produce at least 1.34 times more energy than land-based and nearshore wind turbines. Additionally, offshore wind turbines generate more power in the Omani peak electricity demand during the summer. Thus, offshore wind turbines have great advantages over land-based wind turbines in Oman. Overall, this work provides guidance on the deployment and production of offshore wind energy in Oman. A thorough study using bankable wind data along with various logistical considerations would still be required to turn offshore wind potential into real wind farms in Oman.

The spatial information on the invasion of alien plant species is considered necessary to develop policies aimed at management since there are significant threats to local biodiversity. The present study was conducted in the Salalah plains, located in the Southern part of Oman, and is severely affected by the invasion of Prosopis juliflora. Spatial analyses of the extent of invasive colonies along with the rate of spread were carried out. The impact of the meteorological parameters, precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity, on the growth dynamics of P. juliflora was also carried out. During the study period of approximately three decades from 1984 to 2013, more than 100 hectares of the natural land cover were converted into mono-dominant stands of P. juliflora. Although different programs to cut the P. juliflora were organized in the study area between 2000 and 2002, these programs have contributed unintentionally to the spread of the seeds and cuttings over larger areas amplifying the rate of increase from 1 ha per year to more than 9 ha. The photosynthetic activity of P. juliflora is directly affected by relative humidity and precipitation. Linear regression analysis showed a significant negative relationship between cumulative monthly precipitation and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with an r-squared value of 0.59 (r = − 0.77) and between mean monthly relative humidity and NDVI with an r-squared value of 0.63 (r = − 0.80). At the same time, there was no relationship between mean monthly temperature and NDVI. Cross-correlation analysis showed that P. juliflora’s vigor was sensitive to the previous month’s high relative humidity and precipitation in a negative way. The adverse effects of precipitation and relative humidity on the growth dynamics of P. juliflora, especially during the monsoon season, should be taken into consideration when planning for integrated prevention and control programs of the invasive species.

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process that permits the conversion of biomasses into energy (bio-oil and biogas) and a solid residue called biochar. The generation of biochar from lignocellulosic materials has been, for longtime, the predominant research focus. Wastewater treatment plants produce huge amounts of sludge biomass and there exists an increasing evidence for their possible reuse as a promising pyrolysis feedstock in recent literature. Though the valorization of biochars generated from lignocellulosic biomasses has been the subject of many reviews, there exists a critical knowledge gap regarding the effect of synthesis conditions of the sludge-derived biochars (SDBs) on their efficiency in the treatment of wastewater. This review critically analyzes the available literature related to SDBs characteristics and application to adsorb inorganic and organic pollutants from effluents. The physico-chemical properties and adsorption efficiency of SDBs are mainly tuned by the nature of raw sludge, pyrolysis conditions, and pre/post-treatments. Indeed, biochars originating from digested sludge have better adsorption capacities towards nutrients and heavy metals compared to those obtained from the non-digested sludge. The nutrients recovery from urban wastewater could be significantly improved when the raw sludge is mixed with lignocellulosic biomass and Mg/Ca rich materials. On the other hand, the chemical activation of sludge at reagent/sludge ratios higher than 2:1 permits to generate SDBs with adsorption capacities comparable and even better than commercial activated carbons. Moreover, the embedment/coating of SDBs with specific nanomaterials and tailored functional groups could significantly improve the adsorption capacities of various organic toxic pollutants and at the same time enhance their chemical degradation. The effect of the nature of target pollutants (organic or inorganic) on the underlying adsorption mechanisms by SDBs was also deeply reviewed. Finally, this paper provides the main application challenges as well as insights regarding the promising future directions for SDBs research and development.