RIYADH — The Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for the Development of Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification Eng. Abdulrahman Bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli will patronize Sunday the launch of the first workshop of the Saudi Green Initiative studies project and the afforestation implementation plan.

The project aims to study the reality and future of afforestation in the Kingdom to achieve the target set by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister, and minister of defense, to plant 10 billion trees in the Kingdom, equivalent of rehabilitating 40 million hectares, in the coming decades to reach a prosperous and sustainable vegetation cover.

This workshop is the first among several workshops that will be held during the project’s implementation phases, and aims to collect information, exchange expertise, coordinate efforts, and activate partnerships between the various parties concerned with the project, and will be designated for public and private sectors, not-for-profit sectors as well as the financial, academic and research sectors.

The National Center for the Development of Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification, through holding these workshops in cooperation with local partners and international expertise houses, aims to assess the reality of afforestation in the Kingdom, determine its future needs, as well as develop mechanisms for implementing field surveys.

It would also help set rules for developing digital maps, and establish a geospatial electronic platform for afforestation in the Kingdom's environments and regions to reach a comprehensive strategic plan for afforestation, and to develop an executive plan to manage partnerships with various sectors and entities.

The center is also working on implementing a large number of projects in different environments in the Kingdom for the development of vegetation cover, through planting trees, spreading seeds, protecting and controlling vegetation sites, rehabilitating degraded ones, detecting encroachments, and combating logging.

This is in addition to overseeing the management of rangelands and the development of degraded ones, the governance of grazing, and the protection and investment of forests and national parks, to promote sustainable (environmental and economic) development.

The MEWA and the government, private and non-profit sectors had confirmed earlier the start of the first phase of the afforestation initiatives launched by the Crown Prince at the Saudi Green Summit, by planting more than 450 million trees and rehabilitating eight million hectares of degraded lands and increasing the percentage of preserved lands in the Kingdom in the coming years to 30% of its total area, and plans to transform Riyadh into one of the most environmentally sustainable cities in the world.

The Saudi Green and the Middle East Green initiatives aim to plant 50 billion trees in the region and reduce carbon emissions by more than 10% of global contributions.

These two initiatives come as part of the Kingdom's endeavor to strengthen its partnership regionally and internationally, in addressing and overcoming environmental challenges to protect the planet, and in support of efforts to combat climate change, to preserve the environment, and the public health in the region and worldwide. —SPA