Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia forms most of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East, and its coasts border the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Its terrain is largely desert, and it is the world’s largest country without a river. Most of the country is used for human activities, in its majority by rangeland. Saudi Arabia has high biodiversity rarity of terrestrial land vertebrates at a global scale. When analysed as single taxons, the rarity of birds, mammals and reptiles is also high. The rarity of marine fish and mammals is also high. Challenges to biodiversity include desertification; limited groundwater resources; coastal pollution from oil spills; and air pollution.