And because trees or green cover are one of the most important natural elements in the universe, people, both modern and old, feel comfortable when they are close to them, because human existence is part of the fundamental system of life in nature that is sustained by its interaction with it and its influence, whether negative or positive, and the world today is taking this into consideration. Given that cities are an aspect of urban development that reflects the extent of concern for humans and the environment, and because the necessities of urban planning in the past were based more on ensuring the ease of movement of cars without little regard for pedestrians or bicycles or allocating green spaces even for social communication, which is a human need for city dwellers, and because acceleration Development and the resulting rapid population growth and large urban expansion have had an impact on preoccupations with other urgent urban planning issues, far from caring for green spaces, or even selecting suitable trees for dry environments in particular, or sustainability issues in general, which today have become among the most important environmental and population issues in the world. on this planet.
Therefore, the urban development program “Green Riyadh” came to fulfill the dreams of many to live in a green environment and in one of the largest capitals of the Arab world, “Riyadh”, which is inhabited by more than 20% of the total population of the Kingdom, which is one of the most ambitious urban afforestation projects in the world, and one of the projects The four major categories launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, at the initiative of the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Muhammad bin Salman, on Rajab 12, 1440 AH. The urban journey Afforestation of 120 residential neighbourhoods, in addition to the afforestation of each of the main roads and public squares, and the implementation of major parks and other facilities and green spaces by 2030.
The “Green Riyadh” program had practically begun to plant trees in a number of neighborhoods such as Al-Azizia, Al-Naseem, Al-Jazeera, Al-Uraija, Qurtuba, Al-Ghadeer and Al-Nakhil, and to hold temporary exhibitions in each of the neighborhoods, in order to inform the residents about the future of their neighborhood and raise general societal awareness. Afforestation of the majority of the main roads in the capital and the entrances to the city. Neighborhood afforestation projects also included work on adopting different designs for each neighborhood, as well as selecting the appropriate type of trees for each neighborhood separately, following many international standards, among which was the beginning of choosing the executing companies with the best expertise. In this regard, the planned urban afforestation works will continue until 2030, thus achieving the final goal of planting 7.5 million trees in the city of Riyadh.
As for the challenge of the abundance of water and trees, “Green Riyadh” has used a sustainable plan and partnerships with major international companies specialized in this vital and important field to implement the largest irrigation network for green spaces using regenerated water in the world, where the rate of use of regenerated water for irrigation purposes will be raised from 90,000 m3. To 1,700,000 cubic meters per day, and on the parallel side and on the path of tree-producing nurseries, he worked to develop the Sefarat Neighborhood nursery in 2021, as the annual production rate increased from 250 thousand trees to 1.5 million trees annually, and the program also focused on educational and awareness efforts on the importance of urban afforestation Through various efforts and direct and indirect awareness activities.
The “Green Riyadh” program has become the great glimmer of hope for the residents of the Saudi capital, as an urban afforestation program has been introduced that covers most of the elements and components of the city, including 3,331 neighborhood parks, 43 major parks, 4,500 mosques, 5,939 educational facilities, 64 universities and colleges, And 387 health facilities, 1,621 government buildings, and the afforestation program covers 4,440 kilometers of streets and roads, 2,000 parking lots, 1,001 linear kilometers of “green belts” within public utility lines – electricity transmission towers and oil pipeline paths -, 4,515 vacant plots of land, and 231 km of valleys and their tributaries.
The goals of the afforestation projects in the “Green Riyadh” program represent the national ambition in terms of improving the quality of life, by raising the per capita green area in the city from the current 1.7 square meters, to 28 square meters, equivalent to 16 times what it is now, and increasing the percentage of The total green areas in the city from 1.5% currently to 9.1%, equivalent to 541 square kilometers, by planting 7.5 million trees within the urban scope of the city of Riyadh, which means that the per capita share in the capital, Riyadh, will exceed the share allocated to its global counterpart of green cover by three times by the year 2030, when the global average is only nine square meters per capita, according to the official website of the United Nations on the Internet, compared to 28 square meters for residents of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
