Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdulrahman Bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli affirmed that the Kingdom is committed to sustainable economic development to preserve natural resources. He stressed that the Kingdom has more than 66 initiatives, and investments amounting to $20 billion to achieve sustainable development. In his speech during a panel discussion entitled "The Need for Environmental Action at National, Regional and International Levels — The Kingdom's Experience", within the activities of the Saudi Green Initiative forum, on the sidelines of the "COP27" climate conference, being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. He pointed out that the commitment to the agreements of the United Nations, especially the agreement on climate, desertification, and biodiversity, working on it and implementing it will lead us to the desired ecological balance at the global level. Al-Fadhli indicated that the Kingdom has a clear strategy and has implemented balanced initiatives to deal with the required environmental paths in all directions to combat the impact of climate change. Role of technology in growing vegetation cover A dialogue session on growing vegetation cover through technology was held within the activities of the first day of the Saudi Green Initiative forum. The session dealt with the progress, which has been made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its plan to plant 10 billion trees throughout the country, the role of local people in afforestation and reforestation initiatives and the role of cloud seeding (Artificial Rain) in improving and promoting the development of vegetation cover in arid regions. In his speech at the session, the CEO of the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification Dr. Khalid Al-Abdulqader, stressed that the project to plant 10 billion trees in Saudi Arabia is one of the most ambitious projects in the world to protect the environment and will contribute to absorbing a huge amount of carbon naturally. He pointed out that there is great cooperation in implementing the project between government agencies, the private sector and government organizations, as the possibility of planting 600 million trees in cooperation between these parties by 2030, explaining that there are joint research and studies also within the framework of this project. — SPA
