The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shared its significant advancements and lessons learned in enhancing water security and sustainability on the sidelines of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The Kingdom's participation in the water event, focused on the Action Plan for Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), highlighted its rapid progress in integrated water resources management. This comes as Saudi Arabia was specifically chosen by the UN-Water Commission as a country demonstrating clear and tangible strides in the SDG 6 Integrated Water Resources Management Index.
Dr. Abdulaziz Alshaibani, Deputy Minister for Water at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, led the Saudi delegation. He outlined key strategies that have propelled the Kingdom's water management forward.
Dr. Alshaibani presented these insights during an event that featured the launch of a new UN-Water report, which spotlighted countries' success stories in accelerating SDG 6. Saudi Arabia was prominently featured in this report as a leading example of accelerated integrated water management, a critical indicator for achieving SDG 6.
He noted that this comprehensive approach has significantly improved efficiency, coordination, and service quality within the Kingdom's water sector between 2017 and 2023. The Kingdom's Integrated Water Resources Management Index (IWRM) saw a remarkable increase from 57% to 83%, marking one of the fastest global growth rates in the Sustainable Development Goals 6.5.1 indicator.
Dr. Al-Shaibani further emphasized that the water sector has strong support from the Kingdom's leadership, which has facilitated structural and organizational development to ensure sustainable water management. This commitment is underscored by substantial financial allocations dedicated to expanding and modernizing water infrastructure, leading to a significant rise in the "enabling environment" ratio in Saudi Arabia from 42% in 2017 to 87% in 2023.