The Kingdom stresses the importance of dealing with the challenges of drought with effective measures

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stressed that the challenges of drought are a global reality shown by scientific indicators, stressing the importance of dealing with them at all societal levels through appropriate and effective measures, and the development of technologies of various types such as adaptation and resilience techniques, and building human and technical capacities to be integrated, in order to achieve the desired goals towards the preservation of good lands and the reclamation of degraded lands.

This came in the Kingdom's speech today (Monday) at the conference "Enhancing Resilience to Drought" in Geneva, which was delivered by the head of the Saudi team at the conference, CEO of the National Center of Meteorology, and Advisor to the Presidency of the COP16 Conference in Riyadh, Dr. Ayman bin Salem Ghulam, in the presence of global leaders and experts, to discuss policy frameworks aimed at enhancing the capacity to face the effects of drought globally.

Dr. Ayman Ghulam explained that the climate change studies that concluded the indicators of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, enhance the possibility of deepening the phenomenon of drought in the affected areas and the possibility of the emergence of new areas that have not suffered from drought before, pointing out that drought affects many environmental and human activities such as the degradation of land and its transformation into an environment unsuitable for many types of wildlife, thus threatening the desired biodiversity and environmental integration, and the deficit in the balance of rainfall in agricultural areas, which will lead to This threatens local and global food security.

Concluding his speech, the head of the Saudi team, Dr. Ayman Ghulam, welcomed the international scientific community to the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16), to be held in Riyadh from 3 to 13 December 2024, stressing that this event will be the largest gathering of the 197 parties to the Convention, and highlighted two key initiatives led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the conference: "Riyadh Global Partnership to Address Drought" and "International Initiative for Early Warning of Dust and Sand Storms".

The Drought Resilience Conference, held in Geneva from 30 September to 2 October 2024, provides a vital platform for global dialogue and collaboration to address one of the most pressing environmental challenges with Saudi Arabia as a key partner.

During the conference, the Kingdom highlighted its ambitious initiatives, including the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative, which include collaborations with 19 other countries, while the Regional Center for Climate Change supports these initiatives through pilot studies to assess the potential impacts of afforestation on Saudi Arabia's climate and regional climate.