Ashraf AboArafe
As a part of ambitious plans launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions, Saudi Arabia aims to plant 10 billion trees. “I am proud to announce the Saudi and Middle East Green Initiatives,” the crown prince, commonly known as MBS, said on Saturday in a statement released by the official SPA news agency. “The Kingdom, the region and the world needs to go much further and faster in combating climate change.”
In addition to working with regional neighbors to plant a further 40 billion trees in the Middle East.,he said that the 10 billion trees would be planted in the country over the coming decades.
Riyadh claimed that the total planting of 50 billion trees in the region would be “the largest reforestation program in the world,” twice the size of the Great Green Wall planting project in the Sahel region of North Africa, which seeks to combat desertification.
The announcement provided little detail on how such an ambitious planting project would take place in a desert climate with limited renewable water sources.
MBS said that Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude oil exporter, would reduce carbon emissions by generating 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. 
