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Saudi Arabia Unveils Roadmap to Reach its 10 Bln Tree Target

A woman walks past the entrance of the convention center before the opening session of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week, a UN-organized conference hosted in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on October 8, 2023. (AFP)
A woman walks past the entrance of the convention center before the opening session of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week, a UN-organized conference hosted in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on October 8, 2023. (AFP)
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Saudi Arabia Unveils Roadmap to Reach its 10 Bln Tree Target

A woman walks past the entrance of the convention center before the opening session of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week, a UN-organized conference hosted in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on October 8, 2023. (AFP)
A woman walks past the entrance of the convention center before the opening session of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week, a UN-organized conference hosted in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on October 8, 2023. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia announced on Monday a roadmap to achieve its ambitious greening target of growing 10 billion trees under the Saudi Green Initiative, a project spearheaded by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Higher Committee for the Saudi Green Initiative.

The announcement reflects the Kingdom's commitment to addressing the environmental challenges it faces and to improving the quality of life of its citizens through the long-term economic and social benefits that will also be unlocked by the planting efforts.

The roadmap was announced at the second annual MENA Climate Week that is being held in Saudi Arabia from October 8-12.

The roadmap strategically lays out a plan for Saudi Arabia’s habitat zones to achieve the maximum potential vegetation cover. Additionally, it considers zones such as cities, highways and greenbelts to ensure that trees are planted where they can deliver ecosystem services that benefit the health and wellbeing of Saudi residents, the majority of whom live in urban areas.

City centers are projected to benefit from increased tree canopy cover which will reduce temperatures by at least 2.2℃ and improve air quality.

Extreme heat and ambient air pollution are some of the most prevalent environmental hazards affecting urban residents globally and are associated with a range of non-communicable diseases, such as respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.

Reduced CO2 levels is an anticipated benefit of increased tree plantation and green spaces in cities.

Over the course of implementation, jobs will be created Kingdom-wide to assist with efforts including tree growing, seed collection, landscape preparation and maintenance, development of urban water reuse networks, the creation of new parks and protected areas, and pioneering sustainability innovations.

Saudi Arabia’s tree planting target is one of the highest amongst any greening program globally. The Kingdom faces some of the most challenging natural conditions with rainfall, arable land mass, and forest area all below the global average.

The 10 billion tree target was originally announced as being equivalent to rehabilitating 40 million hectares of land. In the process of conducting the study, the target has been revised to 74.8 million hectares.

Planting 10 billion trees amounts to 1% of the global greening target and 20% of the Middle East Green Initiative’s afforestation target of planting 50 billion trees across the Middle East. Forty-one million trees have already been planted in Saudi Arabia between 2017 to 2023.

The roadmap is the outcome of a two-year in-depth feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) and the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC). The study was undertaken in collaboration with renowned multidisciplinary global and local experts.

The objective of the study was not only to make the 10 billion target achievable but to incorporate sustainable irrigation methods into the planting process and ensure that the trees and shrubs selected are compatible with the Kingdom’s native varieties and suitable to the selected environment.

Over 1,150 field surveys were conducted across Saudi Arabia as part of the study, including geospatial suitability analysis for vegetation cover, based on environmental conditions including soil, water, temperature, wind and elevation. The study included a thorough assessment of all possible sectoral domains in the Kingdom, leveraging science-based recommendations and technology.

The chosen roadmap will be implemented in two phases. The first, extending between 2024 and 2030, will focus on the environmental domain, taking a nature-based approach. From 2030 onwards, phase two will be implemented incorporating a fully comprehensive approach with the greatest level of human intervention.

The Kingdom is home to a rich diversity of over 2,000 species of flora spread across a variety of habitat zones including mangroves, inland marshes, mountain forests, rangelands, national parks and valleys. By 2030, over 600 million trees are expected to be planted.

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Varieties

Italy’s Catania Airport Shuts Again as Etna Ash Halts Flights

Volcanic material and fumes rise from Mount Etna during an eruption under a starry sky in Sicily, Italy, July 30, 2026. (Reuters)
Volcanic material and fumes rise from Mount Etna during an eruption under a starry sky in Sicily, Italy, July 30, 2026. (Reuters)
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Italy’s Catania Airport Shuts Again as Etna Ash Halts Flights

Volcanic material and fumes rise from Mount Etna during an eruption under a starry sky in Sicily, Italy, July 30, 2026. (Reuters)
Volcanic material and fumes rise from Mount Etna during an eruption under a starry sky in Sicily, Italy, July 30, 2026. (Reuters)

Flights at Italy's Catania airport were suspended again on Monday due to volcanic ash from Mount Etna's ongoing activity, ‌the company ‌operating the Sicilian ‌hub ⁠said.

All arrivals at ⁠the airport, Italy's fifth-busiest by passenger traffic, will be suspended until ⁠4 p.m. ‌local ‌time (1400 GMT), airport ‌operator SAC ‌said in a Facebook post.

Mount Etna, Europe's highest ‌and most active volcano, frequently disrupts flights ⁠at ⁠Catania, but ash emissions have been particularly intense this summer, affecting thousands of travelers during the peak holiday season.

Varieties

South Korea Aims to Save Seniors Lost in Digital Age

Elderly people using tablets during a government-organized digital survival training course at a senior community center in Suwon. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
Elderly people using tablets during a government-organized digital survival training course at a senior community center in Suwon. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
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South Korea Aims to Save Seniors Lost in Digital Age

Elderly people using tablets during a government-organized digital survival training course at a senior community center in Suwon. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
Elderly people using tablets during a government-organized digital survival training course at a senior community center in Suwon. Jung Yeon-je / AFP

A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world's starkest digital divides for seniors.

Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-ageing country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it, said AFP.

"You can't do anything without smartphone apps or a kiosk machine... It's too much for old folks," Hwang said at a senior community center in Suwon, south of Seoul, during government-organized digital survival training.

The so-called grey digital divide has provided some striking examples in the nation of about 52 million, home to world-leading smartphone and memory chipmakers.

Last year, several baseball clubs began reserving a small number of tickets for on-site sales after reports that older fans, cash in hand, approached younger people at stadiums and pleaded with them to buy tickets from machines.

Nearly 90 percent of taxi drivers use ride-hailing apps, yet more than 80 percent of South Koreans over 60 still hail cabs by hand, a survey showed.

A 71-year-old retired public servant at the same training session as Hwang recalled spending over 30 minutes trying to flag down a taxi on a busy Seoul street.

The cabs kept passing him to pick up younger riders just meters away who were using smartphone apps to hail their rides.

"I felt utterly useless," the man, who gave only his surname, Park, told AFP.

- South Korea's wide divide -

The digital divide can also pose a real threat, leaving older people vulnerable to high-tech crimes such as online scams or limiting their access to medical services, experts say.

A state survey last year found that 60 percent of South Koreans over 60 struggle to use public and commercial services due to lack of digital skills -- compared with just six percent of those under 40.

"The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.

He noted that the nation's "intensely compressed" industrialization happened in just a few decades, while it took centuries in many Western countries.

South Korea -- which had a GDP per capita below $100 in the wake of its 1950-1953 war -- is now the world's 15th largest economy, according to the IMF.

"Many of our elderly grew up at a time when many had no electricity, landline phones or proper schooling," Kim added.

The nation's older cohort is massive -- South Korea is what the UN calls a "super-aged society", where more than 20 percent of the population is over 65.

In response, South Korea's public tech training for the elderly began in 2020, when businesses and services turned online during the Covid-19 lockdown.

- A wish to be 'born young' -

Hwang, echoing others in the two-hour class, said she's made it this far by relying on her children for daily tasks she once managed herself -- including enrolling in her favorite dance class at the local community center.

"Before, I could easily do all of these just by calling or showing up in person," Hwang said.

Officials now provide nationwide training for the "digitally vulnerable" for using mobile devices, apps, and AI. Vans packed with tech devices and mock kiosks drive to community centers and regional festivals popular among the elderly.

In 2025, over 65,000 sessions were held for some 650,000 people over 60.

Hwang gathered along with 30 neighbors for a session in August, practicing how to pay hospital bills at mock kiosks, patting a prancing robot dog, or asking their phones: "Gemini, tell me about tomorrow's weather."

She has undergone similar training several times -- and said the lessons helped her confidence -- but noted she was "so envious of young people who can do all this so easily".

"I wish I had been born young in today's world," Hwang added.

Varieties

Himalayas Approaching Tipping Point, Millions of Livelihoods at Stake, Says Report

Snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas are seen during a media tour, from Shigatse, Tibet autonomous region, China, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (Tingshu Wang/Pool Photo via AP)
Snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas are seen during a media tour, from Shigatse, Tibet autonomous region, China, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (Tingshu Wang/Pool Photo via AP)
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Himalayas Approaching Tipping Point, Millions of Livelihoods at Stake, Says Report

Snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas are seen during a media tour, from Shigatse, Tibet autonomous region, China, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (Tingshu Wang/Pool Photo via AP)
Snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas are seen during a media tour, from Shigatse, Tibet autonomous region, China, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (Tingshu Wang/Pool Photo via AP)

The Himalayas ‌are approaching a tipping point as glaciers melt faster than a decade ago, threatening water security as the region approaches "peak water" by mid-century, according to a study released this month.

The findings come after the collapse of a Himalayan glacier in late August along the Nepal-Tibet border, which caused cascading landslides and flash floods in the valleys below. At least 1,300 people have been confirmed dead and more ‌than 5,300 are ‌missing across Nepal and China's ‌Tibet ⁠region.

As glaciers retreat, ⁠they are leaving behind unstable glacial lakes held back by little more than loose rock and ice, above valleys where millions of people live, the study found.

The study was produced by Systemiq, a sustainability advisory firm, together with the Integrated Mountain ⁠Initiative, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain ‌Development, and India's G.B. Pant ‌National Institute of Himalayan Environment.

Himalayan glacier mass loss had ‌accelerated in recent decades, while only 21 glaciers were ‌currently monitored on the ground out of an estimated 40,000 glaciers across the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, a vast mountain system spanning eight countries from Afghanistan to Myanmar, the ‌study found.

Close to 200 glacial lakes in India had been identified as high ⁠risk, ⁠with 56 classified as "very high risk", leaving millions exposed downstream.

As the region neared "peak water", the point when river flows stop rising and start declining, it would have profound implications for water security. As the Himalayas underpinned more than 20% of India's GDP, the region made up a key piece of the country's national economic infrastructure, upon which hundreds of millions of people depended.

Though making up around 18% of India's land, the Himalayan region accounted for roughly 35% of the country's natural disasters.