Saudi Arabia sets up environmental prosecution
Department established specifically to investigate environmental crimes
Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia’s Attorney General Shaikh Saud Bin Abdullah Al Mujib has issued a decision to set up a department tasked with investigating environmental crimes, to enhance protection of the environment.
The move comes in tandem with Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives, launched by Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman on Saturday.
This new independent department will investigate environmental cases, to limit criminal practices that have a negative impact on the environment and climate.
It will also investigate all patterns and behaviours that threaten climate stability and environmental sustainability under a single penal system.
The Kingdom’s Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives call for regional cooperation to tackle the environmental challenges facing Saudi Arabia and the wider region.
The initiatives include a number of ambitious projects designed to reduce carbon emissions in the region by 60 per cent. This will be achieved mainly through the use of clean hydrocarbon technologies and the planting of 50 billion trees, including 10 billion in the Kingdom. Claimed to be the world’s largest afforestation project, it will also help to revive millions of hectares of deteriorated land.
In addition, the initiatives aim to preserve marine and coastal environments, increase the proportion of natural reserves and protected land, improve the regulation of oil production, accelerate the transition to clean energy and boost the amount of energy generated by renewables.