Cairo: Saudi Arabia is expanding the cultivation of trees around mosques as part of an ambitious pro-environment initiative launched three years ago.
As part of these efforts, Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs Abdullatif Al Sheikh has launched the 'Our Mosques are Green' initiative in the Al Bahah region, aimed at planting 50,000 trees around mosques in the southwestern region.
The official said the implementation of the initiative in Al Baha is an extension of the ministry’s efforts to keep pace with the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI).
"Through its branches in the regions of the kingdom, the ministry continues to implement this distinctive initiative to increase vegetation cover around mosques," he added in media remarks.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has unveiled a series of pro-environment measures aimed at addressing climate change.
In 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched SGI, a plan with three overarching targets: emission reduction, afforestation, and land regeneration, as well as land and sea protection.
Envisaged as a whole-of-society action, SGI strives to unite all of the kingdom’s efforts to combat climate change under one umbrella, with clear objectives, including accelerating the green transition.
The initiative envisages reducing carbon emissions by more than 4% of global contributions, through renewable energy projects to provide 50% of electricity production in the kingdom by 2030, and projects in the field of clean hydrocarbon technologies.
The Saudi government has designated March 27 as an official day to celebrate the SGI anniversary each year.
