Islamic media and sustainable development

Now on I'd post more on media and journalism as my MA studies. I appreciate if you kindly share your comments on them...


Islamic media and sustainable development

By: Ehsan Abadikhah
ehsanabadikhah@gmail.com


Introduction
Sustainable development theory is part of international studies carried out after the Second World War and coincided with the establishment of the United Nations (1945). The UN named 1960s as the “decade of development” to encourage the then newly established countries and other nations to improve their socio-economic status. Gradually, the role of communication technologies became more important. The fulfillment of human needs while maintaining the quality of the social life made it urgent to be update about the changes. Economy should meet the needs of the present generation and oversee the future generations' potentials for their needs. Therefore, the role of new-tech communication systems in sustainable development remained as a challenge for all the nations, even in the 21st century.

Communication technologies boost the process of development. Existing competitive markets necessitate the knowledge that is in the hands of the developed countries with high-tech communication systems. In this article, we would briefly look at the role of Islamic mass communication systems in the prosperity of Muslim nations.

Sustainable development depends on the welfare as the corner stone of citizens’ willingness to participate in the plans of their governments. However, it does not focus only on economy. Relative policies encompass some general areas of economy, society and communication.

Economy
Economic and social challenges may create opportunities for development. Here we have an ambiguous concept, and a wide array of views to fall under. The concept includes sustainable and unsustainable development if we divide the developed and developing nations into northern and southern countries respectively.
Sustainability in economy is to continue to function properly without causing irreversible damage to the planet’s ecosystems. This may involve providing the current needs of society while ensuring the welfare of future generations. It should minimize poverty, save the ecosystems, increase the value of a currency and reduce inflation.

Some Islamic nations, mostly in the Middle East are naturally gifted with considerable crude oil resources, so we can take oil industry, as an example, to define Islamic nations’ share of natural resources; how they are limited to it and how it pushes them toward losing their opportunities of investing in other resources.
Such nations are suffering from lingering problems both economically and socially, though they are rich in natural resources and can spend as much as they extract the crude oil.The growth of GDP is necessary for sustainable development but it is not necessarily interpreted as the development itself.
The oil-oriented economy is different from the service-oriented one. The first one experiences higher risks while the latter carries on healthier. That is why oil production cannot compete with some international leading car manufacturers. Tourism is another good example of such potentials to create job opportunities, where private sector can play a major role in this area. So far, just a few Muslim countries have been active in this regard.

Society
If the growth process continues, in the long term we will see the development in many aspects of social life. In "unsustainable situations", the nature's resources are used up faster than it can be replenished. Therefore, it requires that people only use nature's resources in a way that be replaced naturally. Theoretically, it is impossible at the present speed of destruction. The long-term result would be the disappearing local environments that are no longer able to sustain human populations to any degree. Such degradation on a global scale could imply destruction for civilization.
New-tech communication
Both society and economy play parallel roles in the healthy growth and development of the country. Is there any need for persuading the nation to save the world? Who can take this heavy role? The answer is mass communication systems.
Let us look at the history of destruction and construction in the world. Invention of radio, before the Second World War, and television after that horrible period of history, influenced the world more than any other agents of communication did. The newly born media had the power to cultivate decisions of the owners. Nazism, for instance, exploited the communication instruments of 1930s to declare war against humanity. The emergence of green NGOs and other humanitarian communities, mostly on the cyber space, has gathered a huge power from around the world in favor of peace and human rights.

The mysterious media really frames the audiences' understanding of the place they live in. One can use the media for the sake of peace and prosperity of all the humanity or vise versa.
Muslim nations share the same Islamic rules and teachings about the economy. Media can work on this aspect and help the Islamic governments mobilize the nation to try for unity and prosperity of the entire Muslim nation in a greater scale.
The media can help through informing, agenda setting, priming and framing those visions of the Islamic governments for Muslim NGOs and communities.

Conclusion
Continuous economic growth is necessary to create sustainable development. If we reach this point, we would find the way to make dreams of social development come true.
Participating media educates a participating nation with democracy. Doing well in just one aspect of growth and leaving the rest untouched will not end in development; it just makes holes in the body of the economy. We should consider both growth and social development at the same time with the same pace. If governments pay no attention to welfare, education, health and happiness of their people and just concentrate on the growth, they will lose the human resources to carry out their plans.
We live in the age of information, and we are here to win or lose the opportunities. Those who invest in new-tech communications would control the market and conduct the business, but those who do not would get to anywhere.
If Muslim nations continue on a knowledge-based growth, attracting foreign investment, they can help their dreams come true. It also depends on a variety of factors, namely social, economic and political stability.
Finally, it is with the combination of all the three elements of society, economy and mass media that a prosperous and participative Muslim nation can live happily and save the natural resources for the next generation on the green planet earth.#