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Greening initiatives in the Middle East can leverage urban infrastructure to enhance sustainable water use

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Large-scale afforestation is championed as a way to restore degraded habitats, conserve biodiversity and advance societal improvements. In the Middle East, a severely water-stressed region, we argue that urban greening will need to play a major part in efforts to deliver a more sustainable and water-sensitive strategy, while also enhancing urban liveability.

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Acknowledgements

This commentary is funded by KAUST WDRC CCF funding FCC/1/1971-44-01 (awarded to all authors). The authors thank X. Pita and the KAUST Research Communication team for the graphic illustration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Pei-Ying Hong, Himanshu Mishra & Matthew F. McCabe

  2. Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Pei-Ying Hong & Himanshu Mishra

  3. Center for Desert Agriculture, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Himanshu Mishra

  4. Red Sea Research Center, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Daniele Daffonchio

  5. Climate and Livability Initiative, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Matthew F. McCabe

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  1. Pei-Ying Hong
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  2. Himanshu Mishra
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  3. Daniele Daffonchio
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  4. Matthew F. McCabe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pei-Ying Hong.

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Hong, PY., Mishra, H., Daffonchio, D. et al. Greening initiatives in the Middle East can leverage urban infrastructure to enhance sustainable water use. Nat Water 1, 996–999 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00171-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00171-9

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