“Green Makkah” is a sustainable future for green cover development

The Mecca Region Development Authority has launched several initiatives to help protect the environment and limit environmental degradation in throughout the Mecca region, working in collaboration with the National Center for the development of vegetation cover and the fight against desertification, which led to the “Green Makkah” initiative, which was launched His idea is His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz, Advisor to the Guardian of the Two Holy Mosques, Governor of the Al-Mukarramah Mecca Region, with the aim of increasing vegetation cover, reclaiming degraded lands, protecting natural habitats, increasing environmental commitment and benefiting from water resources.

In the next three years, “Green Makkah” seeks environmental sustainability, in collaboration with a group of partners and competent authorities, to bring about a realistic transformation in the Mecca Al-Mukarramah region by creating a healthy environment for the residents of Mecca and its governorates and suburbs from the repercussions of the absence of vegetation cover, as well as raising awareness of the community By activating the participation of individuals in the sustainability of the vegetation cover.

The “Green Makkah” initiative is in in line with the Kingdom’s vision and the Green Saudi Initiative, rehabilitating and developing natural plant cover at the regional level, limiting the deterioration of grazing areas, forests and valleys, and developing national parks through making optimal and sustainable use of available natural resources , from renewable water sources, how to use rainwater, lakes, dams and treated wastewater, limiting desertification and soil erosion, invasion of sand and loss of fauna resources, contributing to climate change adaptation and cooperate in the development and investment of national parks. According to a methodology based on international best practices, e in two phases, the foundational one and the strategic one, the founding phase on which we are working provides a package of urgent works within several tracks aimed at building a base map for the vegetation cover at the level of the region and the governorates and the determination of indicators standardto be the first base map for vegetation cover and water sources at the level of the regions of the Kingdom, using geospatial information systems and remote sensing techniques.