Saudi Arabia Makes Regional Breakthrough in Arabic-Language Land Management Expertise

   Riyadh, October 25, 2026, SPA -- Saudi Arabia has achieved a new milestone in sustainable land management, with Saudi professionals accredited as Arabic-language expert reviewers for the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) Global Sustainable Land Management Database. The Kingdom is the first Arab country to achieve this distinction, enabling sustainable land management practices to be documented and reviewed in Arabic to support environmental sustainability and Saudi Vision 2030.
   The National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification said the achievement was made possible through technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its partnership with WOCAT. It added that it strengthens the Kingdom’s capacity to document, review, and validate sustainable land management practices in line with international standards, and expands Arabic-language technical expertise, reinforcing Saudi Arabia’s contribution to regional and global efforts on land restoration and combating desertification.
   Following a joint evaluation by the FAO and the WOCAT Secretariat, 10 Saudi specialists were registered in the global database: five as expert reviewers responsible for technical review and quality assessment, and five as Saudi national experts responsible for national-level validation and approval of documented practices before publication on the global platform.
   The center added that the milestone complements the recognition of Saudi Arabia’s National Greening Program as a UN World Restoration Flagship at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in August.
   -- SPA