Countries in the region are, per person, among the worst polluters in the world according to statistics from the United Nations.

Gulf nations also want to be compensated if their oil-based economies are undermined by a legally-binding agreement on climate change.

These are the cold hard facts. For these reasons, it is not unusual to approach any environmental conference organized by a Gulf Cooperation Council member with a little bit of skepticism.

However, on the evidence of this first full day of the Gulf Environment Forum, the signs are that these countries are actually getting serious about moving towards an era of sustainability.

For example, Saudi Arabia wants to move away from costly and energy draining desalination methods to supply water. Instead, the country is looking at treating and reusing its wastewater, which can work out to be cheaper and more efficient.

In addition, Gulf countries are also seriously considering the money that can be made out of harnessing the sun's rays and generating power for the region, if not the world.

Aside from the fact that solar power is a potential cash-cow, Arab nations are also waking up to the fact that a global shortfall of power is a real possibility in the next few decades.

These worries were evident in a session on renewable energy at the forum on Monday. The chairman of the sustainable construction company, the Gulf International Trading Group, said $32.6 billion had been pumped into renewable energy projects to help meet an expected shortfall of 100 gigawatts of power in the Arab world.

It is almost certain that this would not have been the case 10 years ago.

However, the real star of the day was session chair Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. He expressed his wish for oil producing countries to work with the rest of the world in order to generate more energy from renewable sources.

He joked and engaged with the audience in a manner that was not cheesy. He begged the audience not to throw shoes at him when the session overran by an hour (hugely delaying the other sessions) to ensure everyone had their questions answered at the end.

It might be going a bit too far to say this, but the prince certainly has the charisma to act as a focal point for any green revolution in the country.

However, let us keep our feet on the ground. The Gulf Environment Forum certainly had a lot more substance than the recent and more glitzy Jeddah Economic Forum and it was a crying shame the former did not attract the large crowds it deserved.

Yet as we all know, words mean nothing if you cannot back them up with serious actions. The Gulf region now expects.