عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

On its First Celebration... Saudi Green Initiative Enhances Planet Protection

The initiative seeks to protect the environment and improve the quality of life in the country. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The initiative seeks to protect the environment and improve the quality of life in the country. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

On its First Celebration... Saudi Green Initiative Enhances Planet Protection

The initiative seeks to protect the environment and improve the quality of life in the country. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The initiative seeks to protect the environment and improve the quality of life in the country. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

In line with a decision by the Saudi government, March 27 of each year has been designated as an official day to celebrate the Saudi Green Initiative, which aims to chart a path for Saudi Arabia and the region in protecting the planet.

The initiative, launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in March 2021, oversees the implementation of a sustainable, long-term climate action plan that supports Saudi Arabia’s ambition to achieve the goal of zero neutrality by 2060 through the circular carbon economy, and accelerate transition towards a green economy.

The initiative embodies the vision of Prince Mohammed, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Green Saudi Arabia, to confront the challenges of climate change, improve the quality of life, protect the environment, and advance sustainable innovation for the benefit of future generations.

Leading role

Riyadh plays a pioneering role in reducing the effects of climate change and carbon emissions, given its rich resources and experience in managing global energy stability. According to experts and specialists, Saudi Arabia is qualified to lead a new era of climate action and contribute significantly to global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

During the meeting of Arab ministers concerned with climate affairs in Riyadh in October, Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stressed that responding to the challenges of climate change was a shared responsibility.

He explained that each region has its own environment that requires different means and implementation mechanisms to deal with this challenge, emphasizing the importance of four axes, namely adaptation, mitigation, financing, and global effort.

The minister also underlined the vital role of young men and women in responding to the challenges of climate change, by developing solutions and innovations and participating actively in decision-making.

Consolidating interest

Abdul Rahman Al-Fadhli, the Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, said on his personal account on X that the Council of Ministers’ decision to designate March 27 as an annual day for the Saudi Green initiative represents a “consolidation of the leadership’s interest in environmental issues locally and internationally” and “supports the Kingdom’s approach to leading the green era, and ensuring a more sustainable future for the next generations.”

For his part, Majid Al-Hogail, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, said Saudi Arabia will continue “our journey to enhance the prosperity of our cities and raise the quality of life,” adding: “Our ambitions are great. We are always capable of achieving them.”

Many government agencies are expected to organize events to mark the Saudi Green Initiative Day and highlight their efforts in reducing carbon emissions, increasing afforestation and protecting land and marine areas.

The Ministry of Environment said that 43 afforestation projects have been launched as part of the Saudi Green initiative to achieve the goal of planting 10 billion trees inside Saudi Arabia, and 40 billion trees throughout the region, and rehabilitating degraded lands.

This will ultimately reduce carbon emissions around the world by 2.5 percent, the ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat.

77 different programs

Since the announcement of the Saudi Green Initiative, 77 different programs have been launched to support these goals and drive sustainable growth, with investments worth more than SAR700 billion.

Saudi Arabia has transformed its commitments into concrete actions by uniting the efforts of the government and private sectors and promoting opportunities for cooperation and innovation. It is also moving towards achieving its national climate ambitions and supporting global goals in this framework.

43 afforestation initiatives

The 43 afforestation initiatives aim to plant about 400 million trees by 2030.

The official spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture told Asharq Al-Awsat that these initiatives have contributed until the third quarter of 2023 to planting 43.9 million trees in various parts of Saudi Arabia, and reclaiming 94,000 hectares of degraded lands, achieving a 300 percent increase in production capacity to reduce carbon emissions, and more than 8 gigawatts in production capacity for renewable energy projects.

Biodiversity

In order to strengthen and enhance biological diversity, restore the local natural environment, and increase the percentage of protected areas to more than 30 percent of the total land area in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry said that work is underway to implement four initiatives that will contribute to increasing the percentage of protected terrestrial areas to more than 21 percent, and the percentage of marine protected areas to more than 26 percent by 2030.

Moreover, since the launch of the Saudi Green initiative, 1,669 endangered animals, such as the Arabian oryx, sand gazelle, and ibex, have been resettled in the Kingdom’s natural reserves, where they help enhance biodiversity.

Community participation

The initiative called on all members of Saudi society to participate in the activities of the first edition of the Saudi Green Initiative Day. The Ministry’s spokesman, Saleh bin Abdul Mohsen bin Dakhil, confirmed “a great demand by members of society to participate in the afforestation initiatives taking place in various parts of the country.”

He said that more than 150,000 volunteers have registered to participate in these projects over the past two years, adding that this number is expected to double.

Remote Sensing

With regards to new agricultural technologies that have been utilized within the framework of sustainable solutions that preserve the environment, the Ministry of Environment launched a program for remote sensing and artificial intelligence technologies to study the reality of vegetation areas and contribute to achieving afforestation goals.

Advanced technologies support tree planting efforts in hard-to-reach areas, by identifying suitable sites for planting them, studying the nature of the soil and plant species, and monitoring the movement of sand.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

NGO: Orangutan Uses Indonesia Canopy Bridge in 'World First'

Surya, a female Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), cradles her newborn on April 15, 2026 at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium, in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)
Surya, a female Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), cradles her newborn on April 15, 2026 at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium, in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)
TT
TT

NGO: Orangutan Uses Indonesia Canopy Bridge in 'World First'

Surya, a female Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), cradles her newborn on April 15, 2026 at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium, in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)
Surya, a female Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), cradles her newborn on April 15, 2026 at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium, in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)

A Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time crossing a man-made canopy bridge constructed to help the endangered animals bypass a tarred road on the Indonesian island, an NGO said Sunday.

Conservation group Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, in partnership with the UK-based charity Sumatra Orangutan Society (SOS) and local authorities, built five canopy bridges in the North Sumatra province in 2024, after a road that serves as a lifeline for remote communities had been expanded, cutting through the rainforest.

The first Sumatran orangutan has now been caught on camera using one of the hanging bridges, SOS said in a statement sent to AFP Sunday.

While other species including gibbons and long-tailed macaques have also been spotted crossing there, "this is a world first for Sumatran orangutans," it added.

The bridge's use by the orangutan was a "huge milestone for conservation", SOS chief executive Helen Buckland said.

"These canopy bridges demonstrate that human development and wildlife don't have to be at odds. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the most effective," Buckland added.

The road is an important social and economic link for communities in Sumatra's Pakpak Bharat district.

But it has also split a population of some 350 orangutans, SOS said.

Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director at Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, said that habitat fragmentation was "one of the greatest challenges in contemporary conservation".

He said he hoped canopy bridges would become a "standard feature" of infrastructure planning across the region.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies Sumatran orangutans, endemic to the island of Sumatra, as critically endangered.

Their decline is blamed on habitat loss and fragmentation as well as illegal hunting.

In the wild, orangutans are found only on Sumatra and the nearby island of Borneo, which is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Varieties

Japan Deploys Hundreds of Firefighters as Wildfires Rage in North

A firefighter works as wildfires continue in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, April 26, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A firefighter works as wildfires continue in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, April 26, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
TT
TT

Japan Deploys Hundreds of Firefighters as Wildfires Rage in North

A firefighter works as wildfires continue in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, April 26, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A firefighter works as wildfires continue in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, April 26, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defense Force personnel to battle mountain blazes that have been raging in the north for five days and threaten to reach homes in the picturesque coastal town of Otsuchi, officials said on Sunday.

Fanned by dry, windy weather, two more wildfires broke out elsewhere in the north on Sunday - one in Kitakata city and the other in Nagaoka, potentially stretching firefighting resources thin as local authorities send personnel to neighbouring areas.

The area burned by the Otsuchi fires reached 1,373 hectares (3,393 acres) as of Sunday morning, up 7% from a day earlier.

RESIDENTIAL AREAS AT RISK

The fires threaten residential districts of Otsuchi on the Pacific Coast - a town that lost nearly a 10th of its population in one of Japan's worst disasters, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Authorities expanded the scope of evacuation orders to 1,558 households or 3,257 residents by Sunday evening, roughly a third of Otsuchi's population.

"Although the Self-Defense Forces are fighting the fires from the sky (with helicopters), the dry weather and winds are helping the fires expand," Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told a press conference.

Some residents used hoses to spray water onto their houses and surrounding foliage, hoping to keep the flames at bay.

"I am prepared to evacuate by my car at any time. Fire won't be able to catch up to us since it does not move as fast as a tsunami," said resident Shigeki Fujiwara, 67.

Flames up in the mountain were visible from his home, and while his family has already been evacuated, he said he had chosen to stay behind because he was worried about the house.

FORECAST FOR RAIN

The only casualty to date has been one minor injury suffered when a person fell at an evacuation centre, Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on its website.

Rain is expected in some parts of Iwate prefecture's southern coastal region, where Otsuchi is located, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The cause of the Otsuchi fires is not clear and is under investigation.

While Japan has experienced relatively few wildfires compared with other parts of the world, climate change has increased their frequency, especially as the early spring months before the humid rainy season have been hot, dry and with winds that can whip up flames.

Varieties

Inside the World’s Largest Art Heist When over $500M of Paintings Were Stolen from a Boston Museum

An empty frame hangs on patterned green walls in the Dutch Room at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where artworks were stolen in a 1990 art heist, April 9, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
An empty frame hangs on patterned green walls in the Dutch Room at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where artworks were stolen in a 1990 art heist, April 9, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
TT
TT

Inside the World’s Largest Art Heist When over $500M of Paintings Were Stolen from a Boston Museum

An empty frame hangs on patterned green walls in the Dutch Room at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where artworks were stolen in a 1990 art heist, April 9, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
An empty frame hangs on patterned green walls in the Dutch Room at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where artworks were stolen in a 1990 art heist, April 9, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

For decades, the 1990 theft of 13 artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — now valued at more than $500 million — has remained unsolved.

It remains the largest art theft in history — far surpassing more recent museum thefts, including a daylight heist at the Louvre that involved far fewer works and was resolved more quickly. In 2013, the FBI said it knew who was responsible for the Boston museum heist but declined to name them, fueling speculation that persists today.

A former FBI agent who led the investigation for more than two decades is now offering the first detailed account of how investigators reached that conclusion — and publicly identifying the men he believes were involved. In a new book, Geoff Kelly traces how the artworks moved through criminal networks, where violence took the lives of key suspects and witnesses, and challenges long-circulating theories by revisiting key details.

The irony at the center is that Gardner’s intention was for the museum to remain frozen in time, stipulating in her will that nothing in the Venetian palazzo-inspired building would be changed after her death. Gardner, who lived in the museum and died there in 1924, intended for the paintings, sculptures and architectural fragments to remain exactly as she had arranged.

The empty gilded frames of the missing paintings still hang in the museum today — silent witnesses to what was taken.

The art heist Early on March 18, 1990, as Boston wound down from St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, two men dressed as police officers arrived at the museum and convinced a security guard to let them in, violating protocol.

The men handcuffed the guards in the basement and made their way to the museum’s Dutch Room, where they cut Vermeer’s “The Concert” and Rembrandt’s “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" from their frames, also taking works by Degas and Manet.

They also took a Napoleonic eagle finial — a decorative metal piece of comparatively little value that investigators later found puzzling — and the museum’s security videotapes.

The museum offered a $5 million reward that they then doubled a decade later for information leading to the recovery of the works.

Boston-area network of criminals Some tips pointed to the Irish Republican Army and to Boston mob figures, including notorious crime boss Whitey Bulger.

Kelly followed one lead to France, where he watched through binoculars as FBI agents, posing as wealthy intermediaries, lounged on a yacht — drinking champagne and eating strawberries — in an effort to draw out suspected Corsican mob figures.

Closer to home, agents searched houses across New England, relying heavily on informants. A triple murderer known as “Meatball” who was terminally ill secretly recorded conversations with suspected associates in hopes of earning money for his family.

But none of the tips led to the paintings.

Violence complicates matters In the decades since the robbery, several people believed to have ties to the heist were killed, and another died under suspicious circumstances.

Robert “Bobby” Donati, a Boston mob associate long suspected in the case, was found stabbed to death in 1991, his body left in the trunk of a car after his home had been ransacked.

Years earlier, Donati has visited the Gardner with another known art thief, Myles Connor, to scope it out for a robbery and said that if he ever took the museum’s Napoleonic finial, it would be his “calling card.” Years later, a jeweler told investigators Donati tried to sell a finial from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum but backed off, saying it was “too hot.”

A separate line of evidence centered on George Reissfelder, who investigators believe owned the getaway car.

Kelly tracked down Reissfelder’s brother, a retired military officer who had initially not believed his brother was involved. He broke down after being shown Manet’s “Chez Tortoni,” saying he recognized it as a painting he himself hung above his brother’s bed.

Reissfelder later died under suspicious circumstances. When investigators searched his home, the painting was gone.

Both men had ties to TRC Auto Electric, a Dorchester shop linked to Charles “Chuck” Merlino’s crew.

Investigation with limited resources Though investigators believed they knew who was responsible, they had a difficult time finding definitive proof.

In its early stages, the FBI assigned a single agent to the case, which Kelly said slowed progress.

“You have to keep in mind when you’re talking about investigations, they come down to dollars and cents,” Kelly said. It was “like pulling teeth” to secure resources. At the time, federal investigators in Boston were heavily focused on violent crime, drug trafficking and organized crime cases.

Kelly said a decision to release surveillance footage despite investigators’ objections became a lasting distraction. With no usable video from the night of the robbery, prosecutors released footage from the night before that showed a museum employee entering the building after his car broke down. Kelly said he objected to the theory that the employee was casing the museum, since that possibility had already been reviewed and dismissed. The footage fueled years of misplaced suspicion, since the man was later determined not to be involved.

Theories about an inside job at the museum Among the questions that linger is whether it was an inside job.

In photos from that night, a museum guard is seen handcuffed in the basement, his head wrapped in duct tape.

Investigators noted that shortly before the robbery, the guard opened a door against policy — one that faced the area where the thieves were later seen waiting — a move investigators considered highly unusual and suspicious.

“It’s the immutable laws of time and space,” Kelly said. “I think that there was enough information back then that he could have been charged. Would it be enough to convict him? I don’t know.”

By the time investigators examined those questions more closely, Kelly said, the statute of limitations had expired, leaving them with little leverage to compel cooperation.

The museum guard, Rick Abath, denied any involvement in the theft. He died in 2024.

The artworks that disappeared Kelly personifies the missing artworks and describes them as “perfect fugitives.”

“They don’t go to the doctor. They don’t get stopped for speeding. They don’t leave fingerprints,” he said. “They can just disappear.”

Unlike human fugitives, he said, artworks can also be copied.

Over the years, that has meant chasing down false leads — including paintings spotted in a Reno antique market, hanging in private homes and even one that appeared in an episode of the TV show “Monk.”

Because the works are so recognizable, it's nearly impossible to sell them publicly.

“Stealing the artwork from the museum, that’s the easy part,” Kelly said. “Profiting from it, that’s the difficult part.”

He imagines the paintings will surface one day — outliving those who carried out the heist.

“I have no doubt they still exist,” he said