Strategic pathways and regulatory choices for effective GHG reduction in hydrocarbon based economy: Case of Oman

The sultanate of Oman is a high-income country with economy dominated by hydrocarbon production accounting for 47.2% of GDP in 2014. Of the total, crude oil production contributed 43.8% to GDP while natural gas output accounted for contributed 3.4% of economic output. The sustained economic growth, urban sprawl and industrialization have maintained a continuous rising in energy demand. The consumption of oil and natural gas has doubled and tripled respectively, over the last decade. The diversification of the economy faces concerns about future energy security as conventional fossil fuel resources dwindle and its young population continues to grow rapidly. Oman faces the challenge of harmonizing its aspirations for rapid economic growth with a pressing need to address low-carbon, climate-resilient development. Internationally, Oman has voluntarily agreed to reduce GHG emissions 2% by 2030. The diversifications of the economy away from hydrocarbons requires an ambitious plan to diversify Oman’s energy mix while driving economic growth and technological innovation. Specifically, this paper focuses on providing an objective strategic pathways and regulatory choices that can serve as a starting point for policy makers when discussing how best to achieve GHG emission reductions in Oman. This study intentionally focus on the energy sector, the sector responsible for the largest share of GHG emissions in Oman. Keywords: Oman, Hydrocarbon economy, Pathways, GHG reduction, Climate change mitigatio

Translocation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) into plant tissues: A review

Occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment and the potential consequences for human health is of serious concern. In the current review, we have tried to provide a summary on recent research and an overview of PPCPs in the soil-plant systems, in the environment and analytical methods used for determination of PPCPs in plant tissues. Further review also include highlights on the fate of PPCPs in agricultural soils receiving treated wastewater irrigation or biosolids amendment, and plant uptake of PPCPs under laboratory and field conditions. PPCPs have shown to be released to the environment and may cause significant impacts on different environmental aspects. Plant roots showed their abilities to uptake and transfer of PPCPs into plant tissues. The uptake of PPCPs varies depending on crop type and physiochemical properties of the chemical compound that were exposed. Consumption of contaminated crops with PPCPs residues may cause serious health problems. Liquid chromatography in combination with mass chromatography was found to be the most popular analytical instrument used for PPCPs determination in different samples. Finally, the information gaps and few suggestions for future research have been proposed in this review. Keywords: PPCPs, Root uptake, Translocation, Human exposure, Analytical method