Royal Commission for AlUla Plants 500,000 Trees and Shrubs, in Line with Saudi Green Initiative Goals

The vast landscape of AlUla’s Sharaan Nature Reserve will be better than ever before thanks to the successful planting of 500,000 trees and shrubs, which aims to restore native ecosystems.
 The large-scale ecological restoration project was led by the Royal Commission of AlUla (RCU) in support of Kingdom-wide efforts to plant 10 billion trees as part of Saudi Green Initiative’s bold environmental and conservation goals.
 According to a press release issued by the RCU today, the members of AlUla community, students, and RCU employees came together throughout November to reach a milestone by planting 500,000 trees and shrubs. Native plant species were used in the process, with seeds collected from AlUla and grown at RCU’s native plant nursery.
 Planting native trees and shrubs improves soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability, boosting resilience to climate variability, and creating an abundant food source for newly released herbivores.
 RCU’s ecological restoration efforts, which are aligned with the goals of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI), also support its ongoing rewilding program, which has so far released more 1,000 native animals into four of AlUla’s protected nature reserves.
 The release added that the initiative’s central pillars prioritize “greening Saudi Arabia” and “protecting the land and sea”, comprehensive goals that underpin RCU’s commitment to environmental, agricultural, cultural, social, and economic sustainability.
 AlUla’s Sharaan Nature Reserve is already home to a 100-hectare pilot project run as part of a partnership between RCU and SGI that is testing various approaches to ecological rehabilitation in arid environments.
 RCU Wildlife and Natural Heritage VP Dr. Stephen Browne said: “RCU is restoring the power of nature’s balance to safeguard AlUla’s natural and cultural heritage and conserve our precious environment. Planting 500,000 trees and shrubs is a major contribution to the Kingdom’s climate goals that seek to safeguard and protect natural landscapes and vulnerable ecosystems.
 “The regeneration of AlUla’s natural habitats – its valleys, mountains, oases and its flora and fauna – is one of the main ambitions of RCU, alongside involving, uplifting and upskilling our community."