Antalya: Saudi Arabia highlighted its most prominent efforts to protect the environment, reduce land degradation, and enhance its resilience through work on developing vegetation cover and promoting the sustainability of natural rangelands. Developmental work also includes a pioneering role in supporting environmental issues regionally and internationally, thereby enhancing its global standing in the environmental field in line with Saudi Vision 2030 targets.
According to Saudi Press Agency, this came during a speech delivered by CEO of the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification Eng. Ahmed Al-Ayada at the launch ceremony of the 2026 Silk Road Caravan, organized by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Antalya, Trkiye, in support of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026.
The Silk Road Caravan aims to shed light on rangeland ecosystems and pastoral communities that shaped life along these pastoral routes in areas where culture, land, and climate intersect.
Al-Ayada noted that the Silk Road Caravan carries a practical message emphasizing the importance of rangelands, pastoralists, and dryland ecosystems as essential elements in land restoration solutions and enhancing community resilience. He pointed out that Saudi Arabia has achieved many significant accomplishments in environmental protection and land restoration locally and internationally. The Kingdom has recently announced the rehabilitation of one million hectares of degraded land and the planting of more than 159 million trees through the National Afforestation Program, which seeks to achieve the targets of the Saudi Green Initiative to plant 10 billion trees across various regions of the Kingdom, equivalent to rehabilitating 40 million hectares.
He added that the Middle East Green Initiative targets planting 50 billion trees across the region, alongside Saudi Arabia's hosting of several international environmental events and conferences, most notably the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16), which accelerated international action to combat desertification and boosted partnerships.
Al-Ayada pointed to Saudi Arabia's chairmanship of the Near East Forestry and Range Commission, noting that the Kingdom hosted the commission's 27th session last year, augmenting its efforts to achieve sustainable management of natural resources through enhancing vegetation cover and protecting natural resources. He added that the Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing Conservation of Terrestrial Habitats, launched during Saudi Arabia's presidency of the G20 meetings, boosts vegetation cover and protects natural resources.
