RIYADH: The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, along with the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification, launched the National Afforestation Season for this year on Thursday in Riyadh under the title: “We Plant for Our Future.”
Khalid Al-Abdulqader, CEO of the NCVC, expressed his commitment to raising awareness about the significance of afforestation. He emphasized the need to support efforts to enhance vegetation cover and mitigate land degradation.
Through this season, the CEO aims to promote environmental sustainability and encourage the cultivation of local plants to improve the biodiversity and sustainable ecosystems in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is taking further steps toward achieving the ultimate goal of the Saudi Green Initiative, SGI, which is to plant 10 billion trees and rehabilitate 40 million hectares.
However, it requires strengthening partnerships with multiple sectors including the public and private sectors, and promoting volunteering among the society to achieve sustainable development goals.
The planting season also seeks to increase “tree planting” culture in Saudi Arabia, improve vegetation cover, and reduce land degradation by growing more local plants.
This initiative marks a new phase in environmental protection efforts, which have already led to the planting of more than 95 million trees across the country through collaborations between public and private sectors.
Previous partnerships have successfully rehabilitated 118,000 hectares of land and protected more than 4.3 million hectares, while this year, the target is to contribute to the SGI’s goal of planting 10 billion trees.
The Kingdom has been encouraging afforestation recently to tackle several environmental issues such as the rapidly changing climate, through lowering regional temperatures and controlling the severity of drought.
Saudi Arabia called on the world’s policymakers last month to urgently address land destruction and drought, especially since the country will be hosting the 16th UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP16 in Riyadh in December.
