The Arab region is faced with an array of risk factors including unsustainable development practices, humanitarian emergencies, rapid urbanization, dwindling natural resources, land degradation and increasing human interaction with animals. Several of the most noticeable consequences these risk factors have led to are air pollution, inadequate wastewater and solid waste management and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report discusses the main environmental drivers that impact various aspects of human health in the Arab countries, and proposes an action plan leading to the region meeting Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and well-being. These recommendations are placed within an integrated context of sustainable development, by tackling health in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects.
The report’s seven chapters deal with the relationship between health, water, air, waste, ocean pollution and climate change, as well as progress and obstacles in achieving the environmental health content of the SDGs.