RIYADH — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has continued its global outstanding performance, outperforming 180 countries in two indicators of environmental performance, ranking first in the “Tree Cover Loss” and “Wetland” indicators.

This is in addition to surpassing 172 countries in preserving and protecting natural environments and preventing the extinction of rare animal species, ranking eighth in the world in the "Species Habitat Index”, as revealed by the National Center for Performance Measurement (Adaa), which monitors the international indicators.

This achievement comes as the international community celebrates Saturday, June 5, the World Environment Day, in which the Kingdom stands out with many environmental achievements.

According to Adaa center, the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture (MEWA) is making remarkable efforts to protect the environment, which had an important impact on life, wealth, and the economy, and contributed to preserving the environment's natural resources and their sustainable development.

The Kingdom’s achievements in the environment-related sectors are important in the international indicators, according to Adaa, citing Saudi Arabia’s ranking in first place in the “Tree Cover Loss” indicator which confirms its preservation of forest areas, knowing that this indicator measures the average annual loss in forest area over the past five years; the chronological age of the launch of Vision 2030.

The Kingdom also garnered first place in the “Wetland" indicator, a true reflection of the Kingdom’s keenest wish to maintain and preserve the grasslands, as it measures the average annual loss in grasslands area over the past five years.

The Kingdom outperformed 133 countries by ranking 34th in the world and first in the Middle East and North Africa in the "Forest soils and site indicator" which assesses the quality of land, forests, and soil resources and their impact on the quality of life,.

This is in addition to the “No Floods” and “Sustainable Nitrogen Management” as sub-indicators of the “Forest soils and site”, in which the Kingdom ranked 17th and 19th globally, respectively.

The first measures the number of recorded floods based on data issued by the World Resources Institute while the second measures sustainable nitrogen management in crop production through two measures: nitrogen use efficiency, and land-use efficiency for crop productivity.

With regards to the indicator pertaining to "Satisfaction with Efforts to Preserve the Environment", the Adaa Center said the Kingdom ranked 13th globally out of 167 countries according to questionnaires prepared by Gallup polls which measure efforts to preserve environmental sustainability.

The Kingdom’s advancing to leading positions in these indicators reflects the Saudi leadership’s ongoing support and keenness to raise the level of quality of life and preserve the environment and its natural resources that achieve sustainable environmental security and to achieve the objectives of Vision 2030 and its global initiatives.

The global initiatives have been praised worldwide, most important of which are the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative.

The Adaa center is tasked with monitoring and following up on those indicators that highlight the Kingdom’s progress at the world level, and enable decision-makers to develop performance and global competitiveness, through international performance platforms, which enable public agencies to follow up on the Kingdom’s performance as opposed to the performance of more than 217 countries in more than 700 global measurement indicators. — SPA