Kuwait Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

limited natural freshwater resources; some of world's largest and most sophisticated desalination facilities provide much of the water; air and water pollution; desertification; loss of biodiversity

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping-London Convention

Climate

dry desert; intensely hot summers; short, cool winters

Land use

agricultural land: 8.5% (2018 est.)

arable land: 0.6% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.3% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 7.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 0.4% (2018 est.)

other: 91.1% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 100% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.35% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 64.08 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 98.73 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 6.21 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 1.75 million tons (2010 est.)

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Indian Ocean drainage: (Persian Gulf) Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)

Major aquifers

Arabian Aquifer System

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 450 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 20 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 780 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

20 million cubic meters (2020 est.)