18.10% of the country's land and 6.48% of its marine environment are recognised as protected areas in Saudi Arabia

The announcement was made at the first forum on protected areas held in Riyadh. The panel entitled “Achieving the 30 percent by 2030 Target for Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas: Aligning International and National Efforts” was addressed by experts discussing the country's environmental successes. This is reported by Arab News.

Saudi Arabia has been actively promoting its conservation initiatives under the Saudi Green Initiative launched in 2021. The country plans to protect 30% of its land and marine areas by 2030 through the establishment of protected areas with the participation of the National Wildlife Centre.

Highlighting the importance of cooperation between the private and public sectors for effective conservation, Deputy minister for environment at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Osama Faqeeha, emphasised that the national environmental strategy aims to involve all stakeholders to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability.

Neville Ash, the director of the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, expressed satisfaction with Saudi Arabia's progress in conservation, noting that this progress is in line with the global sustainable development strategy. He also emphasised the importance of using reporting mechanisms, such as the Protected Planet platform, to track progress and measure the achievement of the world's environmental goals.

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