News

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is integrated and indivisible, and it balances the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental. As such, environment has been a priority on the international agenda, manifested in Goals 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By having access to and effectively using knowledge resources, individuals, firms and communities can improve their individual and collective well-being, thereby contributing to sustainable development. Hence, access to latest environment statistics is an important resource and tool to assess the quality of the environment and advocate for strategic policies.

The collection and dissemination of environment data in the Arab region are untimely and irregular. However, in its continuous effort to improve the scope, depth, reliability and availability of high-quality development knowledge to support development progress in the Arab region, the Arab Development Portal has compiled a dataset on environment in the Arab countries offering statistics published by national statistics offices and respective ministries.

The dataset covers different topics, namely clean water and sanitation services, climate, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, government expenditures, and sustainable energy for all.

The users can now access 195 indicators and 1,297 data points on environment in the Arab region offering data from 2000 onward.

The dataset provides statistics on the above-mentioned topics covering all Arab countries, except for Comoros, Mauritania, Somalia and Yemen, as there were no available data published by national sources in these 4 countries. The latest data available are for year 2015 but for 5 countries only, namely, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Additionally, the published data lack a complete time series from year 2000 onwards except for Bahrain [2000 – 2014], Jordan and Syria [2000 – 2011].

You can visualize and export environment data. For insights on environment in the Arab region, check Therese Gemayel blog entries here.