Saudi Arabia is hosting the 2024 World Environment Day on June 5 and the upcoming 16th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (COP16) in December 2024.
The World Bank works closely with the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, providing strategic support to the ministry on various issues, including assessing the cost of rangeland degradation and desertification, as well as valuating KSA’s mountain forest and mangrove.
Writing for the World Bank blog, Safaa El Tayeb El-Kogali, World Bank Country Director for the Gulf Cooperation Council, points out that:
“Nearly one-fifth of our planet is threatened with desertification leading to the loss of fertile soils and biodiversity which we need to grow food for millions of people and feed for livestock. Climate change has further aggravated the situation especially in countries that have experienced alarming drought events, battled large-scale deforestation or continued using unsustainable agricultural techniques. Since 1961, climate change has reduced global agricultural productivity by about 21%. Moreover, since 2000, the world has lost more than 10% of its global tree cover, with the tropics accounting for 1.48 million km2 of deforestation — an area larger than France, Spain, and Germany combined.”
She commends Saudi Arabia for embracing the concept of environmental sustainability:
“The country has become a regional leader in addressing global challenges and exploring innovative ideas related to the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. The recently established Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) will support projects that promote sustainable land management and restore degraded lands, mainly in dryland countries, with a budget of at least US$2.5 billion over 10 years. The MGI is complemented by an ambitious national program, the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI), which unites environmental protection, energy transition and sustainability programs with the overarching aims of offsetting and reducing GHG emissions by increasing forest areas and support land restoration.”
The World Environment Day 2024 website is here. This year’s theme is “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.” The Environment Day campaign focuses on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.
