The Diplomat
Saudi Arabia announced during the ‘Green Middle East’ summit in Riyadh that it will create an international platform with the aim of launching environmental projects in the region worth 9 billion euros to protect the environment and reduce emissions.
Among these projects, the Saudi government announced the establishment of a regional climate change centre; the opening of a regional complex for the extraction, use and storage of carbon; and the creation of a regional storm early warning centre to mitigate health risks caused by dust.
It was also announced that a regional centre for the sustainable development of fisheries resources will be set up with the aim of increasing marine biodiversity and reducing the level of emissions in this sector by 15%. Finally, a regional cloud seeding (artificial rain) programme will be launched to increase rainfall by 25%.
The announcement was made during the summit that leaders of African and Middle Eastern countries, as well as representatives of environmental organisations, convened by Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud, held recently in the Saudi capital, according to a Saudi Embassy press release (in spanish).
According to this information, Saudi Arabia will also launch “a global initiative to provide clean fuel solutions to provide food for more than 750 million people around the world, as well as create an investment fund on the solutions and techniques of the circular economy of coal in the region”. Planned investments in the two initiatives amount to 39 billion Saudi Arabian riyals (about 9 billion euros), of which the Kingdom will contribute 15 percent.
The summit also called for intensified coordination to protect green spaces, as well as the creation of the Green Initiative Foundation. Two objectives that will complement another initiative presented at the meeting: the planting of 50 billion trees in the region, which would represent 5% of the world’s reforestation targets.
The leaders pledged to “work together to develop a regional roadmap and work plan to address these challenges and achieve the goals of the Green Middle East initiative, considering the impact of this initiative on sustainable development in the region and the preservation of its biodiversity, for the benefit of the entire world,” the communiqué concludes.
