Afforestation platform: A digital step towards planting 151 million trees in Saudi Arabia

In a strategic move that reinforces Saudi Arabia's efforts toward achieving environmental sustainability, the National Afforestation Program announced the imminent launch of its digital "Afforestation Platform." This platform will serve as the unified technical and official reference for managing and documenting all afforestation operations in the Kingdom, forming a key pillar of the "Saudi Green Initiative" and the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

Environmental and historical context: From combating desertification to green leadership

This step is of paramount importance given the historical environmental challenges facing the region, most notably desertification and drought. Since the launch of Vision 2030, the Kingdom has placed environmental protection and vegetation development at the forefront of its priorities, culminating in the Crown Prince's launch of the Saudi Green Initiative, which aims to plant 10 billion trees over the coming decades. The "Afforestation Platform" now serves as a crucial implementation tool to translate these ambitious goals into tangible and well-planned realities, and to act as a cohesive link, ensuring that efforts across different sectors are not fragmented.

Launch details and operational mechanisms

The platform was announced during a specialized workshop organized by the program, which saw wide participation from government agencies, the private sector, and consulting firms. The workshop focused on reviewing the platform's technical mechanisms and how to subscribe to it, emphasizing that it will be the main gateway for enabling individuals and institutions to actively contribute to the development of vegetation cover, while providing guidelines that ensure adherence to sound environmental standards.

Record numbers and tangible achievements

In a related context, Engineer Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Ayadah, CEO of the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification, emphasized that the platform represents a qualitative leap in environmental work. Al-Ayadah revealed figures reflecting the scale of the achievement, noting that collaborative national efforts have thus far resulted in the planting of more than 151 million trees across the Kingdom. He also pointed to the successful rehabilitation of over 500,000 hectares of degraded land, which directly contributes to reducing temperatures and improving the quality of life.

Science in service of the environment: careful plant selection

The afforestation efforts were not random but based on extensive scientific studies. Technical data revealed a catalog of approximately 2,300 native plant species, and after meticulous field studies, 300 of these were selected as the most suitable and approved species for the Kingdom's diverse environments. The platform provides an interactive map showing the distribution of these plants according to ecological regions, thus ending the era of flawed individual judgments in tree selection.

Radical solutions to past challenges

The new platform addresses operational gaps that previously hindered environmental work, such as:

• The absence of accurate indicators to monitor progress.
• Field reports were delayed and varied in quality.
• The difficulty of documenting the achievements of the private and non-profit sectors.

Thus, the platform becomes a “central bank” for national afforestation data, electronically linking development authorities, secretariats, and ministries to ensure the unification of efforts within the urban area and in wild and coastal areas, including mangrove forests, thus establishing a solid knowledge base that supports sustainable strategic planning.