Water resource management and policy evaluation in Middle Eastern countries: Achieving sustainable development goal 6

Abstract

This study explores the challenges and management strategies of water resources in 15 Middle Eastern countries, framed within the context of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6). This study used 123 water resource policies in Middle Eastern countries as data and employed a pre-trained large language model based on RoBERTa, trained on the SNLI and MNLI datasets, to perform text classification tasks. In combination with the TF-IDF algorithm for keyword extraction, this approach is used to systematically evaluate and compare the water resource policies of these countries. The results reveal that the region faces significant water stress, exacerbated by high population growth, climate variability, and political instability. While countries like Kuwait and the UAE utilize advanced desalination technologies to mitigate water scarcity, policy gaps in sanitation and transboundary cooperation persist. Jordan's innovative partnerships for water resource management highlight the potential of collaborative frameworks to enhance regional water security. The findings suggest that comprehensive water management strategies, including technological innovation and public-private partnerships, are essential for addressing the region's pressing water challenges. This research contributes to understanding the complexities of water governance in arid regions and offers practical implications for policymakers aiming to achieve sustainable water resource management.