Sunday, October 09, 2022
The unacceptable price of a Qatar world cup
An article in yesterday's Guardian highlighting the environmental cost of holding this year's soccer world cup in Qatar has reminded me of the many other reasons why this particular venue is unsuitable for such a high-profile tournament.
The paper reports that Qatar is going to need at least 10,000 litres of water every day for each of its stadium pitches. They say that based in a region with virtually no access to fresh water, it is going to rely on desalination – the practice of debrining saltwater so it is drinkable.
As the paper says, this seems like an elegant solution, but the problem is that desalination, which is projected to boom by 37% across the Gulf region in the next five years, has huge environmental costs, in terms of the fossils fuels used to carry out the process, and the marine environment:
In fact, most desalination plants are oil or gas powered, operating with either thermal processing technology, which collects steam from boiling water and condenses it, or the more modern reverse osmosis technology, which relies heavily on electricity produced using natural gas to power pumps that force water through very fine membranes, essentially straining out the salts in the water.
“Either way, you need quite a lot of energy. That can be derived from a lot of sources including by burning fossil fuels,” says Le Quesne.
So although Qatar maintains the World Cup will be carbon-neutral, climate organisations are already expressing doubts. The water demands alone are eye-watering. The tournament will need to manage 144 pitches across eight stadiums, and more than 130 additional training grounds. The delicate and complicated process of creating the right turf for football in the Qatar climate just as the weather begins to cool means the groundsmen have to mimic winter, blowing chilled air over the grass and watering the pitch with at least 10,000 litres of desalinated water.
And for emergencies, according to Reuters, “a 425,000 sq metre reserve of grass – some 40 soccer pitches worth – is growing at a farm north of Doha”. The water consumption of that patch is not recorded.
And despite national commitments to reducing carbon emissions and meeting net zero targets, the region is expecting to do more desalination, not less, with capacity planned to expand 37% by 2027.
This could be devastating for the Gulf’s marine ecosystem, says Le Quesne. Desalination is one of the worst marine pollution drivers around the world, producing brine, a highly saline waste fluid usually released into the sea as saltier, toxic and warmer seawater. It can contain chemicals such as chlorine, heavy metals, and anti-foaming agents that are added during the desalination process, which can harm coral reefs and smaller marine organisms that live on the seabed.
Along with water, smaller organisms also risk getting sucked into the system and can get impinged, crashing into the screens of the intake pipes, or entrained, travelling with water reaching the plant, resulting in severe injury and death.
Compared to the other downsides of using Qatar as a host country, damage to the environment is the least of our concerns. Freedom United highlight the human cost of getting the stadiums ready:
The World Cup hosts who work with the UN and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have repeatedly stressed their commitment to workers’ welfare, however, many of the 30,000 workers constructing the roads, hotels and stadiums for the tournament have been subjected to conditions amounting to forced labor. Heat-related deaths and injuries from laboring in unsafe temperatures and inhumane conditions have also been reported.
Qatar’s new stadiums and infrastructure for the international tournament rely on migrant workers’ labor, people who traveled to the country with the promise of a good salary and fair conditions. Yet, instead, they are faced with low wages, hours of hard labor, debt bondage, restricted movement and communication by having their phones and passports confiscated, forced labor, irregular residency status, and no access to healthcare.
Migrant workers are able to work in Qatar under the kafala sponsorship system that has been in operation since 2000, which systematically deceives workers often low-paid migrant workers. Kafala gives private citizens and companies in Qatar almost total control of migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
The system was derived from the high demand for cheap labor that capitalized on the desperation of many migrants searching for work to send money home to families.
“The kafala system ties ‘foreign’ workers to a sponsor who yields unchecked powers over migrant workers allowing them to evade accountability or labor and human rights abuses and leaves workers beholden to debt and inconstant fear of retaliation.” – Human Rights Watch.
Of course, many fans will want to go and support their teams anyway, and who can blame them. The problem is that many will not be able to find accommodation, and those who do will be paying through the nose for it.
The paper reports that Qatar is going to need at least 10,000 litres of water every day for each of its stadium pitches. They say that based in a region with virtually no access to fresh water, it is going to rely on desalination – the practice of debrining saltwater so it is drinkable.
As the paper says, this seems like an elegant solution, but the problem is that desalination, which is projected to boom by 37% across the Gulf region in the next five years, has huge environmental costs, in terms of the fossils fuels used to carry out the process, and the marine environment:
In fact, most desalination plants are oil or gas powered, operating with either thermal processing technology, which collects steam from boiling water and condenses it, or the more modern reverse osmosis technology, which relies heavily on electricity produced using natural gas to power pumps that force water through very fine membranes, essentially straining out the salts in the water.
“Either way, you need quite a lot of energy. That can be derived from a lot of sources including by burning fossil fuels,” says Le Quesne.
So although Qatar maintains the World Cup will be carbon-neutral, climate organisations are already expressing doubts. The water demands alone are eye-watering. The tournament will need to manage 144 pitches across eight stadiums, and more than 130 additional training grounds. The delicate and complicated process of creating the right turf for football in the Qatar climate just as the weather begins to cool means the groundsmen have to mimic winter, blowing chilled air over the grass and watering the pitch with at least 10,000 litres of desalinated water.
And for emergencies, according to Reuters, “a 425,000 sq metre reserve of grass – some 40 soccer pitches worth – is growing at a farm north of Doha”. The water consumption of that patch is not recorded.
And despite national commitments to reducing carbon emissions and meeting net zero targets, the region is expecting to do more desalination, not less, with capacity planned to expand 37% by 2027.
This could be devastating for the Gulf’s marine ecosystem, says Le Quesne. Desalination is one of the worst marine pollution drivers around the world, producing brine, a highly saline waste fluid usually released into the sea as saltier, toxic and warmer seawater. It can contain chemicals such as chlorine, heavy metals, and anti-foaming agents that are added during the desalination process, which can harm coral reefs and smaller marine organisms that live on the seabed.
Along with water, smaller organisms also risk getting sucked into the system and can get impinged, crashing into the screens of the intake pipes, or entrained, travelling with water reaching the plant, resulting in severe injury and death.
Compared to the other downsides of using Qatar as a host country, damage to the environment is the least of our concerns. Freedom United highlight the human cost of getting the stadiums ready:
The World Cup hosts who work with the UN and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have repeatedly stressed their commitment to workers’ welfare, however, many of the 30,000 workers constructing the roads, hotels and stadiums for the tournament have been subjected to conditions amounting to forced labor. Heat-related deaths and injuries from laboring in unsafe temperatures and inhumane conditions have also been reported.
Qatar’s new stadiums and infrastructure for the international tournament rely on migrant workers’ labor, people who traveled to the country with the promise of a good salary and fair conditions. Yet, instead, they are faced with low wages, hours of hard labor, debt bondage, restricted movement and communication by having their phones and passports confiscated, forced labor, irregular residency status, and no access to healthcare.
Migrant workers are able to work in Qatar under the kafala sponsorship system that has been in operation since 2000, which systematically deceives workers often low-paid migrant workers. Kafala gives private citizens and companies in Qatar almost total control of migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
The system was derived from the high demand for cheap labor that capitalized on the desperation of many migrants searching for work to send money home to families.
“The kafala system ties ‘foreign’ workers to a sponsor who yields unchecked powers over migrant workers allowing them to evade accountability or labor and human rights abuses and leaves workers beholden to debt and inconstant fear of retaliation.” – Human Rights Watch.
Of course, many fans will want to go and support their teams anyway, and who can blame them. The problem is that many will not be able to find accommodation, and those who do will be paying through the nose for it.
One advert seen on Twitter for the Grand Hyatt Doha Hotel and Villas is offering a two-bedroom upper floor villa for £45,628 for ten nights. Others have commented that they have accommodation for £200 a night, plus tickets and flights. In a cost-of-living crisis many will be excluded from attending.
Naturally, I am proud that Wales will be playing at the world cup for the first time since 1958 and I will be backing them to go all the way. It just doesn't seem right that they will displaying their talents in Qatar when so many other venues are available without these terrible drawbacks.
Naturally, I am proud that Wales will be playing at the world cup for the first time since 1958 and I will be backing them to go all the way. It just doesn't seem right that they will displaying their talents in Qatar when so many other venues are available without these terrible drawbacks.
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These 'workers rights' etc are anything but for the migrants who go to the country.Are these sort of 'Charter City' conditions which if we are not careful could develop in our environment areas of industrial development that Truss wants?
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