Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s ambitious program to plant over 10 billion trees in the country are under way and experts are exploring all possible locations in the Kingdom to start implementation phase.

The CEO of the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification, Dr. Khalid Al-Abdulqader, visited the advisory team who’re supervising the implementation of the Saudi Green Initiative and the executive plan for afforestation at work sites.

The visit included “Rawdat Ghaslah” and a number of other sites in Shaqra Governorate in Riyadh region .

The inspection visits comes as one of the components of the scientific and technical study included in the project to document data and information about vegetation development to build the comprehensive strategic plan and the national plan for afforestation.

Dr. Al-Abdulqader was briefed about the field work and the collected samples at the work sites.

The center launched the project of studies of the Saudi Green Initiative and the executive plan for afforestation, in order to achieve the goals of the initiative by planting 10 billion trees and rehabilitating 40 million hectares of degraded lands in the Kingdom.

The center is working to implement it by holding a series of scientific workshops in cooperation with a number of local partners, and global expertise houses.