Water stress mitigation in the Gulf cooperation countries

Water is one of the most sought-after and used natural resources globally, especially amid growing populations and economic activity, placing it under increasing pressure. Therefore, this analysis focuses on water stress (WS) and water vulnerability (WVU) in one of the most threatened regions in the world: the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In order to achieve this goal, this paper uses data covering the period 2000–2021 to explore the effects of temperature rates, CO2 emissions, GDP, sustainable development goals (SDG) achievement, and green growth on WS and WVU using Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR). The findings clearly show that climatic variables are responsible for elevating both dependent variables across all quantiles, with a 1% increase in temperature in CO2 increasing WS by 6% and WVU by 1%, respectively. Additionally, the analysis reveals the existence of the Water Kuznets Curve (WKC), indicating an inverted U-shaped link between WS and WVU on the one hand and GDP on the other, with a turning point around 36,000$ per capita, which has been crossed only in Qatar. Moreover, the paper concludes that SDG achievement reduces water issues both directly and indirectly by moderating the effects of climatic variables. Accordingly, this paper provides important insights that could help GCC countries to alleviate water issues and preserve water for future generations.