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Saudi Environment Minister Launches Executive Plan for National Forestation Program

The National Forestry Program falls within the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to preserve the environment and protect natural resources and plant 10 billion trees as part of the Saudi Green Initiative. (SPA)
The National Forestry Program falls within the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to preserve the environment and protect natural resources and plant 10 billion trees as part of the Saudi Green Initiative. (SPA)
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Saudi Environment Minister Launches Executive Plan for National Forestation Program

The National Forestry Program falls within the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to preserve the environment and protect natural resources and plant 10 billion trees as part of the Saudi Green Initiative. (SPA)
The National Forestry Program falls within the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to preserve the environment and protect natural resources and plant 10 billion trees as part of the Saudi Green Initiative. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification, Eng. Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli launched on Sunday the executive plan for the National Forestry Program.

The program falls within the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to preserve the environment and protect natural resources and plant 10 billion trees as part of the Saudi Green Initiative.

The Vegetation Center has completed a detailed strategic scientific feasibility study that would allow the Kingdom to achieve its goal of planting 10 billion trees.

The goal is in line with the Kingdom's national and international commitment to address environment and climate challenges and improve the quality of life of citizens.

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Cologne Starts Its Biggest Evacuation Since 1945 To Defuse WWII Bombs 

One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)
One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)
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Cologne Starts Its Biggest Evacuation Since 1945 To Defuse WWII Bombs 

One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)
One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)

More than 20,000 residents were being evacuated from part of Cologne's city center on Wednesday as specialists prepared to defuse three unexploded US bombs from World War II that were unearthed earlier this week.

Even 80 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs dropped during wartime air raids are frequently found in Germany.

Disposing of them sometimes entails large-scale precautionary evacuations such as the one on Wednesday, though the location this time was unusually prominent and this is Cologne's biggest evacuation since 1945. There have been bigger evacuations in other cities.

Authorities on Wednesday morning started evacuating about 20,500 residents from an area within a 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) radius of the bombs, which were discovered on Monday during preparatory work for road construction. They were found in the Deutz district, just across the Rhine River from Cologne's historic center.

As well as homes, the area includes 58 hotels, nine schools, several museums and office buildings and the Messe/Deutz train station.

It also includes three bridges across the Rhine, among them the heavily used Hohenzollern railway bridge, which leads into Cologne's central station and is being shut during the defusal work itself.

Shipping on the Rhine will also be suspended.

The plan is for the bombs to be defused during the course of the day. When exactly that happens depends on how long it takes for authorities to be sure that everyone is out of the evacuation zone.