Cairo: Some 1.1 million trees have been planted across the Saudi holy city of Medina as part of a high-profile national environmental friendly project.
The National Water Company announced completing the cultivation of indigenous trees in different parts of the Medina region as part of the Saudi Green Initiative to contribute to the development of vegetation, combat of desertification and harnessing utilisation of recycled water from treatment plants, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.
The state-owned company has already planted 1 million other trees in Buraidah in the central Al Qassim region.
In 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Saudi Green Initiative, an effort aimed at planting 10 million trees across the kingdom, increasing the protected zones to 30 per cent of the country’s overall area and reducing carbon emissions by 278 million tons annually by the year 2030.
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Earlier this month, a Saudi government agency said that green spaces in Medina have increased by 360 per cent in the past five months due to rains.
The National Centre for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification said the total verdant area in Medina in western Saudi Arabia reached in August 2,863 square kilometres or 1.9 per cent of the overall area of the region. By the end of December, the green spaces surged to 13,194 square kilometres, covering 8.6 per cent of the overall area, the centre said.
Vegetation covers most governorates administratively affiliated to the Medina province including the mountainous areas in its western part as well as the eastern parts of AlUla and Al Hanikyah governorates.
Medina is home to the Prophet’s Mosque, Islam’s second holiest site, after the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
