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RIYADH: More than 151 million trees have been planted and 500,000 hectares of land rehabilitated under the Saudi Green Initiative, which aims to plant 10 billion in total, the Kingdom’s environment minister said on Wednesday.

The Kingdom has made significant progress under the National Environment Strategy, en-route to achieving ����ֱ��’s Vision 2030 goals in conservation, water sustainability and food security, said Environment, Water and Agriculture Minister Abdulrahman Al-Fadley.

During a press briefing, Al-Fadley also announced the establishment of five specialized environmental centers, including the Middle East’s first Regional Center for Climate Change Studies and the world’s fourth Regional Center for Sand and Dust Storms.

“The Kingdom has (also) established an environmental fund that is the largest of its kind in the region, reflecting a serious commitment to supporting environmental initiatives,” the minister added.

Protected terrestrial areas went from covering 4.5 percent of the Kingdom’s territory to 18.1 percent, and the number of national parks has increased from 18 to 500.

Since the establishment of the National Center for Environmental Compliance in 2020, more than 40,000 permits have been issued, an increase of 660 percent.

Over 8,000 endangered species have been reintroduced into their natural marine habitats since 2016 as protected zones have grown by 260 percent.

Monitoring services have expanded in all sectors across the Kingdom. There are now 240 air-quality monitoring stations, a new marine program to detect and respond to oil spills, and advanced meteorological sensing and prediction systems.

“We conducted 711 cloud‑seeding flights across regions and increased strategic (water) storage capacity by 600 percent,” increasing rainfall by 6.4 million cubic meters to encourage vegetation and nourish water resources, he said.

New developments have been made in city-level waste management as well, with 21 strategic management plans, and the identification of 330 investment opportunities worth SR450 billion ($119.9 billion).

A number of grants, incentives and environmental funds have been created to support academic collaboration and private sector innovation on mechanisms to divert 90 percent of waste from landfills by 2040.

Al-Fadley also confirmed that water projects worth over SR230 billion have been completed, which includes public and private sector investments for infrastructure and reuse systems.

“����ֱ�� was chosen by the UN Water Committee as a global model for water sustainability,” he said.

The minister announced that the Kingdom was building 1,000 rainwater-harvesting dams with an annual capacity of 4 million cubic meters.

The Kingdom is the world’s top producer of desalinated water with production capacity reaching 16.6 million cubic meters per day in late 2024, an increase of nearly 100 percent compared to 2016.

And strategic water storage capacity has jumped to 600 percent, with most cities having an average supply coverage of three days rather than one.

In addition to being a large producer, ����ֱ�� also delivers water to 22,000 population centers through an 18,000-km pipeline network.

Reused water now makes up 32 percent of total usage.

The National Center for Water Efficiency and Conservation saves 120,000 cubic meters of water daily, with plans to increase it to 300,000, the minister added.

Over 65 percent of those working in the water sector are citizens, and ����ֱ�� engineers make up 97 percent of engineering roles, marking an emphasis on self-reliance.

The minister said 25 public–private partnership agreements were signed involving SR100 billion in investments.

Energy reduction is also a big focus for the country. Since 2016, the amount of electricity consumed has been cut by half.

The agricultural sector now makes up SR118 billion of the nation’s gross domestic product, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, and food production increased to 12 million tonnes.

Al-Fadley said a major economic and cultural achievement was that the Kingdom was now the world’s top date exporter, completely self-sufficient in date production and distribution, as well as in milk and eggs.

For key vegetables self-sufficiency was between 70 to 100 percent, and poultry and seafood exports were growing, he added.