Al-Abdulqader to Asharq Al-Awsat: COP16 to Advocate for Strategies Against Desertification

Dr. Khalid Al-Abdulqader, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification, stated that the upcoming 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), set to kick off in Riyadh on Monday, represents a significant opportunity to strengthen international collaboration.

He added that the event will serve as a platform to showcase Saudi Arabia’s achievements in combating desertification, highlight successful initiatives such as tree-planting and sustainable projects, and encourage other nations to adopt similar strategies.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Abdulqader revealed that the conference would present numerous investment opportunities for local and international private sectors in nature-based solutions to combat desertification. These include plans for 10 investment projects in wild plant nurseries, proposals to involve private companies in the afforestation and management of selected national parks, and the development of 30 eco-tourism sites within vegetated areas. These initiatives aim to expand green spaces and mitigate desertification across the Kingdom.

Additionally, he pointed to the establishment of a dedicated unit to support and guide investors by fostering innovative ideas and providing necessary assistance in accordance with national regulations.

Green Belts and Desertification Control Efforts

Saudi Arabia prioritizes combating desertification and protecting vegetation, particularly given its challenging climatic conditions. The government is actively working to expand forests, rehabilitate degraded lands, develop national parks, conduct ecological research, and protect native plant species through initiatives like green belts.

Al-Abdulqader emphasized the importance of global cooperation in addressing desertification. COP16, he said, would strengthen international efforts to combat drought, land degradation, and their adverse effects, adding that hosting the conference underscores Saudi Arabia’s growing role in global environmental advocacy.

He also said that the Kingdom has launched significant initiatives, including the Saudi Green Initiative, which aims to plant 400 million trees by 2030 and a total of 10 billion trees by 2100, restoring approximately 40 million hectares of degraded land.

Additionally, the Saudi official revealed that the National Center for Vegetation Cover is preparing to launch the 2024 National Afforestation Season under the slogan “We Plant for Our Future”. Sponsored by the Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, this campaign seeks to involve government agencies, local communities, and individuals in afforestation efforts to expand green cover, rehabilitate degraded lands, raise awareness, reduce harmful practices, and improve overall quality of life, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Al-Abdulqader stressed that Saudi Arabia’s environmental efforts reflect its commitment to achieving the goals of Vision 2030, which prioritizes sustainability and environmental protection.

He highlighted the center’s vital role in fulfilling the vision’s environmental objectives by managing natural resources, supporting afforestation projects, rehabilitating damaged areas, and raising awareness of the importance of vegetation cover through public campaigns.

Al-Abdulqader further noted that the center contributes to international initiatives, including Saudi Arabia’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.

Global and Regional Cooperation

The center also supports the goals of the Middle East Green Initiative and the Saudi Green Initiative. To date, more than 95 million trees have been planted in collaboration with public, private, and nonprofit sector partners, increasing green spaces and restoring degraded lands, the official underlined.

He pointed to several international partnerships through memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with countries such as Pakistan and organizations including the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and ELAWCAT for sustainable land management.

Al-Abdulqader revealed that future agreements are in progress with China, the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), and Morocco for vegetation development and desertification control, adding that Saudi Arabia is also collaborating with Egypt on stabilizing sand dunes and engaging in partnerships with Somalia, Albania, Costa Rica, Burkina Faso, and Tajikistan on environmental protection and sustainability.

Lebanese officials hope to meet international bondholders to talk about restructuring debt in the next 12 months but are not planning any meetings at the World Bank/IMF Spring meetings next week, finance minister Yassin Jaber said on Tuesday.

Jaber spoke to Reuters just days before travelling to Washington for the Spring meetings - one of the biggest gatherings for financial policy makers and investors - where Lebanon will seek to show it has made progress on economic reforms to address the underlying causes of its financial crash.

Lebanon's economy began unravelling in 2019 after years of corruption and profligate spending by the country's ruling elite, and tipped into a sovereign default on its $31 billion of outstanding international bonds in March 2020.

Asked whether he planned to meet international bondholders in the next year, Jaber said, "definitely, definitely, this is as they say the elephant in the room."

"You can't escape it in the end. Lebanon is keen to resolve this issue, God willing," he said.

But the country needed to make progress on reforms - including reforming the banking sector and boosting government revenues through reforms to tax systems and customs collection - before it could start talks, Jaber said.

"We wanted, first of all, to do our homework, to put the whole reform process on the right track to get started. You can't have a house in total disorder and then say, 'I want to negotiate,'" he said.

The Lebanese delegation to the spring meetings will be the first outing at an IMF/World Bank meeting for Lebanon's new government, which took the reins in February and pledged to seek a new IMF programme. Jaber said it would be the first time a Lebanese finance minister attends in more than a decade.

Economy Minister Amer Bisat is scheduled to give an outlook on Lebanon's economy at a JPMorgan investor conference held on the sidelines, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The creditor group - which includes the heavyweight funds Amundi, Ashmore, BlackRock, BlueBay, Fidelity and T-Rowe Price as well as a group of smaller hedge funds - has recently appointed a financial advisor in preparation for debt talks.

Shortly after the bondholder group originally formed in 2021, it said it held a "blocking stake" of more than 25% across a number of Lebanon's bonds, making it a critical player in any debt restructuring.

The chunk of the bonds are also held by domestic commercial banks or the Lebanese central bank, which bought $3 billion of debt directly from a previous government in 2019.

Lebanon's bonds trade at deeply distressed levels of around 15-16 cents in the dollar. However, that is a sharp uptick from the single digits they traded in before Israel's military campaign badly weakened Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, long viewed as an obstacle to overcoming Lebanon's political paralysis.

In January, Lebanon's cabinet extended the statute of limitations on legal action over Eurobonds for another three years. Jaber said the move "reassured the bondholders".

Al-Abdulqader to Asharq Al-Awsat: COP16 to Advocate for Strategies Against Desertification