Green Middle East Initiative: Planting 22 Billion Trees and Starting Implementation
The Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Engineer Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli, announced a qualitative shift in the course of regional climate action, confirming that the "Green Middle East Initiative" has effectively moved from the foundational phase to the field implementation phase. This announcement came during the second meeting of the Initiative's Ministerial Council, hosted by Jeddah, where Al-Fadhli revealed that the total commitments of member states to develop vegetation cover have exceeded 22 billion trees, a figure that reflects the scale of regional ambition to address environmental challenges.
A new phase of institutional work and sustainable financing
The ministerial meeting witnessed crucial steps to ensure the sustainability of the initiative, most notably the agreement on a governance structure for project management and the signing of a strategic agreement with the Islamic Development Bank to manage the "Green Middle East Initiative Fund." This step is a cornerstone for ensuring the financial and operational efficiency of cross-border environmental projects, thereby strengthening the confidence of the international community and investors in the initiative's seriousness and its ability to achieve its ambitious goals.
The expansion of the international coalition and the importance of the initiative
In a clear indication of growing international confidence in Saudi Arabia’s leading role in the environmental field, the number of member states in the initiative has increased from 18 at its launch to 34 currently. Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Syria have recently joined this significant environmental alliance. This initiative is of paramount strategic importance as it provides a unified platform to combat desertification, land degradation, and climate change in a region that is among the most vulnerable to global warming, making regional cooperation an urgent necessity, not a luxury.
Historical background and Saudi leadership
It is worth noting that the Middle East Green Initiative was launched by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, at the first Riyadh Summit in 2021, with the aim of developing a regional roadmap for protecting the Earth and nature. These efforts were strengthened during the second summit in Sharm El Sheikh in 2022, where the Kingdom announced it would host the initiative's secretariat in Riyadh and cover its operational costs for ten years, in addition to providing a generous financial grant to support its launch.
Integrating efforts with the Saudi Green Initiative
Minister Al-Fadhli noted that this regional movement coincides with a comprehensive environmental transformation within the Kingdom through the "Saudi Green Initiative," which aims to rehabilitate 40 million hectares of land. The Kingdom has achieved significant progress, planting more than 151 million trees and increasing the percentage of nature reserves to over 18% of the country's area, with plans to reach 30% by 2030. This makes the Saudi experience an inspiring model for member states on how to balance economic development with environmental preservation.
