THE’Saudi Arabia He launched himself in the largest green initiative in the world. On March 27, 2021, in fact, the hereditary prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced the launch of the Saudi Green Initiative and of the Middle East Green Initiativetwo ambitious plans for contrast desertification, degradation of soil and climate changetransforming the kingdom and the entire Middle Eastern region into an environmental sustainability model.
According to what was declared by the hereditary prince, the Saudi Green Initiative provides for the planting of 10 billion trees within the Kingdom and the creation of natural reserves out of over 30% of the national territoryequivalent to 600,000 km². This would mean an increase of 12 times of the current arboreal coverage and a contribution of 4% to the global goal of restoring terrestrial ecosystems.
Parallel, the Middle East Green Initiative will involve the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other Middle Eastern nations for plant another 40 billion of treesbringing the regional total a 50 billiona number that represents the largest reforestation project ever announced, even exceeding the “Great Green Wall” of Sahel.
A project for climate and public health
Arabia, which we remember to be one of the main world oil manufacturers, said she wants to drive the Global ecological transition without sacrificing economic growth. Among the objectives, Cut the global emissions of CO₂ by 4%reaching 50% of energy produced by renewable sources by 2030. Investments in technologies for clean hydrocarbons are also planned, which they should alone reduce the annual emissions by 130 million tonsand an ambitious recycling program that aims to deviate 94% of waste from landfills.
The plan also focuses on protection of marine and coastal biodiversityto the fight against air pollution (which today shortens the average life in the kingdom of about 1.5 years), and to sustainable management of the soilconsidered crucial in a region where over 75% of the cultivable land is already degraded.
Concrete example of the Saudi commitment is the Thadiq National Park600 km² north of Riyadh, where they were planted 250,000 trees and 1 million shrubs. The park has been transformed thanks to green engineering interventions, such as terraces dams that collect rainwater. ONE TIME AREA unwittingtoday it has become an example of environmental regeneration.
