The discovery of oil in Oman in 1964 contributed to unprecedented change and development, resulting in a demographic shift from a largely agrarian, rural village society to increased urbanization around Muscat, and a transformation of the human relationship to land and resources. Policymaking was an act of “Omanibalancing”; incorporating a regional oil and gas economy, forward-thinking sustainability built on Qur’anic precepts, and “Omani ecocultural spirituality.” During his fifty-year reign, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said safeguarded Oman’s many environmental assets through national initiatives, thus laying the foundation for enduring policy that cultivated a spirit of ecological appreciation that remains part of contemporary Omani cultural identity. The young Sultan Qaboos began leading his country during the dawning of the global ecological movement, ascending to power just two years before the first United Nation’s Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. Oman’s consistent engagement in international discussions around environmental regulations and protocols can be seen in its evolving domestic agenda and institutions. The modern Omani Renaissance occurred with environmental preservation in mind and the involvement of a vast cadre of stakeholders seen across such varied domains as K-12 through university education, governmental and non-governmental agencies, national architectural style, wildlife preservation, resource and habitat conservation, agricultural advancement, regional beautification projects, and international ecotourism initiatives. Oman has been carefully shaping its policy in tandem with a “moral and scientific obligation” to modernize at a measured and reasoned pace.

This chapter uses the term greening to describe Oman’s environmental policies, initially conceived by Qaboos, that manifest in new ways among generations educated in institutions he helped to establish.