Cloud seeding, early warning, protected area expansion: How Saudi Arabia restored 1 million hectares of degraded land

Saudi Arabia has restored a million hectares of degraded land, creating a model for other water-scarce countries dealing with widespread desertification amid global warming, according to a press statement by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The large-scale effort was successful due to a combination of measures such as cloud seeding programmes, early warning systems for sand and dust storms, and the expansion of protected areas. These well-coordinated and innovative interventions strengthened ecosystem resilience and improved land productivity, noted UNCCD.

Some 40 per cent of the global land surface is degraded, most of it in dryland areas, the desertification monitoring body noted. This affects three million people, as healthy land systems are critical for food security, water availability, economic resilience and stability. Thus, restoration must be a social and economic priority and not just an environmental priority, noted UNCCD experts in the statement. Funding remains a major challenge facing countries in their land restoration efforts.

At this juncture, Saudi Arabia's achievement shows that large-scale land reclamation is possible, even in the driest places despite intensifying droughts, with long-term planning, according to UNCCD. “This milestone shows that restoring land at scale is not only possible but also it is already happening,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad in a recorded message marking the occasion.

In July 2025, a UN-backed report showed that some of the most destructuive and widespread droughts occured during 2023-2025, driven by record global temperatures and El Nino. The hotspots included southern and eastern Africa, the Amazon, southeast Asia, the Mediterranean and Central America. These regions faced hunger, displacement and water shortages to crop losses, wildlife deaths and energy disruptions, and the droughts also reduced sugar, rice and coffee output and disrupted trade as low water levels curtailed Panama Canal traffic.

The same year, a UN policy brief highlighted that major diseases like cholera, malaria, cardiovascular ailments, respiratory conditions and malnutrition may be linked with droughts and land degredation.

“Land is our most vital infrastructure,” added Fouad. “When land degrades, water systems weaken, food production declines and communities become more vulnerable. Investing in healthy land is investing in people, stability and long-term prosperity.”

Ahead of the session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UNCCD, to be held in Mongolia in August 2026, Saudi Arabia's initiatives play a role in enhancing global collaboration on land issues.

“Restoring land is not only an environmental necessity, it is a pathway to resilience, stability and prosperity,” Fouad said. “The progress we are seeing today shows what is possible when ambition is matched with action.”