Saudi Land Restoration: 159m trees planted and restored 1 million hectares of land

Saudi Arabia has restored one million hectares of degraded land and planted more than 159 million trees, marking one of the biggest milestones under the Saudi Green Initiative since it began in 2021. The programme, which now aims to rehabilitate 40 million hectares and plant 10 billion trees across the kingdom, has grown restored land to a million hectares in under five years. Officials from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification have called the achievement proof that large-scale land restoration is possible even in some of the driest parts of the world, positioning Saudi Arabia as a working example for other water-scarce nations facing worsening drought and desertification.How the Saudi Green Initiative reached one million hectaresThe Saudi Green Initiative was launched in 2021 as part of the kingdom's broader Vision 2030 plan, with a long-term goal of rehabilitating 40 million hectares of degraded land and planting 10 billion trees. According to the Saudi Green Initiative, growing 10 billion trees is treated as equivalent to restoring more than 74 million hectares of land over the coming decades, since the plan combines afforestation with wider ecological rehabil...