The UAE is leading innovation and sustainability efforts in global water security

Tomorrow, Sunday, the UAE celebrates World Water Day, which falls on March 22 of each year, affirming its firm commitment to enhancing global water security and providing innovative solutions to ensure the sustainability of water resources.

The UAE continues to lead global water security efforts through pioneering initiatives such as the “Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative” and the “Emirates Suqia” Foundation, as it prepares to welcome the world to the “United Nations Water Conference” next December in partnership with the Republic of Senegal.

The conference assumes exceptional importance in light of the worsening global water crisis, as 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion others live in areas suffering from water scarcity, making the conference an opportunity to establish water as a focus for peace, development and economic growth.

The UAE’s commitment to global water security is highlighted through its financial pledges and humanitarian initiatives, including a $150 million pledge for water scarcity solutions announced in “COP28and the “Clean Rivers” programme, which allocated up to $60 million to address waste and water challenges in Indonesia, the Philippines and Brazil.

Under the umbrella of the “The Gallant Knight 3” initiative, the UAE continues its efforts to confront the thirst crisis in the Gaza Strip, which included carrying out the work of drilling wells, maintaining pumps and generators, and restarting what broke down, through the opening of six desalination plants, and leading to the launch of the “Lifeline” project, with a length of 7 kilometers and 500 meters, with a productivity of about 2 million gallons per day serving more than a million people.

In the same context, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation announced the completion of vital humanitarian projects, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to support Sudanese refugees in the Republic of Chad, which included drilling 10 wells with an average capacity of 975 cubic meters per day of potable water, benefiting 65,000 people.

Last May, the UAE sent a ship loaded with 14 seawater desalination plants to the port of Limassol, with a production capacity of 15,000 cubic meters (3.3 million gallons per day) per day, which enhances Cyprus’ ability to face water challenges.

In turn, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development announced last January the launch of the “Abu Dhabi Global Water Platform”, which aims to finance qualitative development projects, new investment opportunities, and innovative initiatives that contribute to the development of the water sector around the world.

The platform seeks to attract total funding worth $2 billion US dollars (7.34 billion dirhams), from local and international financing institutions and organizations.

The Fund will allocate the first of these funds, worth one billion dollars, over a period of five years extending from 2026 to 2030, targeting about 10 million beneficiaries around the world.

Last February, the Fund signed a loan agreement with the government of the Republic of Tajikistan to finance the Ragon hydroelectric power station project worth 376 million dirhams, which will allow storing about one billion cubic meters of water, benefiting from it in generating energy, supporting irrigation activities, and providing drinking water to the population.

The Fund contributed to financing the project to supply the city of Kiffa and a number of neighboring regions in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania with potable water, which upon completion will provide drinking water to more than 180,000 people initially, with a gradual expansion to serve 500,000 beneficiaries by 2050.

The Mohamed Bin Zayed Water Initiative continues its efforts to enhance cooperation and work with international partners to explore new and sustainable solutions and innovations to address the challenges of water shortages around the world.

In April 2025, the initiative launched the “Water Challenge” program, which aims to accelerate the development and application of innovative solutions to enhance the efficiency of water use, while announcing the first challenge in the program’s series of challenges entitled “Water Challenge for Agriculture” to drive innovation in developing effective and practical technologies and solutions that contribute to reducing water consumption in the agricultural sector, and maintaining and improving crop productivity.

Since its establishment, the UAE Suqia Foundation has contributed to providing clean water to nearly 15 million people in 37 countries around the world through sustainable development and humanitarian projects. Under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, and through the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award, it continues to motivate innovators and researchers around the world to develop practical and sustainable solutions to the water scarcity crisis.