King Salman Royal Natural Reserve Embarks on Planting Half a Million Trees in 2022

The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program has attached utmost importance to environmental protection and natural resources. (SPA)
The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program has attached utmost importance to environmental protection and natural resources. (SPA)
TT
20

King Salman Royal Natural Reserve Embarks on Planting Half a Million Trees in 2022

The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program has attached utmost importance to environmental protection and natural resources. (SPA)
The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program has attached utmost importance to environmental protection and natural resources. (SPA)

The King Salman Royal Natural Reserve (KSRNR) started planting 500,000 tree seedlings in the reserve in March. The initiative was kicked off in cooperation with the National Center for Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The operation began in mid-March with the planting of 400,000 seedlings in Jubbah and 100,000 in Al-Tubayq.

It will be implemented in two stages until the end of November 2022, while irrigation and care services will continue until 2024.

The afforestation project is part of an agreement between KSRNR and the National Center for Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification. It aims to increase the green area, reduce desertification, restore biodiversity in natural environments, and improve the quality of life, to achieve the objectives of the Saudi Green Initiative.

KSRNR also signed a contract to plant 100,000 seedlings in the Al-Tubayq region this year, including care work and irrigation services.

The tree planting efforts coincide with Environment Week, which is held annually by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.

KSRNR is working on several initiatives in the reserve in collaboration with the National Center for Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification, the universities in Tabuk, Hail, and Al-Jawf, and several voluntary bodies and charities, such as the Green Tabuk Association, the Tabarjal team from the Sidr Al-Jouf Volunteer Association, among others. It aims to achieve the necessary environmental awareness for the local communities.



A NASA Spacecraft Will Make Another Close Pass of the Sun

This image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. (Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP, File)
This image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. (Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP, File)
TT
20

A NASA Spacecraft Will Make Another Close Pass of the Sun

This image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. (Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP, File)
This image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. (Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP, File)

A NASA spacecraft will make another close brush with the sun, the second of three planned encounters through the sizzling solar atmosphere.

The Parker Solar Probe made its record-breaking first pass within 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the scorching sun in December, flying closer than any object sent before.

Plans called for it to attempt that journey again on Saturday. Since the flyby happens out of communication range, the mission team won't hear back from Parker until Tuesday afternoon.

Parker is the fastest spacecraft built by humans, and is once again set to hit 430,000 mph (690,000 kph) at closest approach.

Launched in 2018 to get a close-up look at the sun, Parker has since flown straight through its crownlike outer atmosphere, or corona.

Scientists hope the data from Parker will help them better understand why the sun’s outer atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than its surface and what drives the solar wind, the supersonic stream of charged particles constantly blasting away from the sun.