Imam Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Plants Over 1 Million Trees, Shrubs During First Half of 2024

23:20-9 July 2024 AD ـ 03 Muharram 1446 AH

Imam Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Plants Over 1 Million Trees, Shrubs During First Half of 2024

The Imam Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Royal Reserve Development Authority has completed the planting of more than one million and 200,000 trees and shrubs during the first half of this year 2024, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday.

This is part of the Authority's plan to resettle indigenous wild plants in the Imam Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Royal Reserve and the King Khalid Royal Reserve.

The authority said the planted wild trees and shrubs include Sidr, Talh, Arfaj, Arta, and others, stressing that all of them are indigenous wild plants, and were carefully selected to suit the environment in the two reserves.

The authority added that it had started to boost vegetation cover and resettle indigenous wild plants since 2021. It said its efforts are ongoing, aiming to preserve, increase and develop vegetation cover to achieve its strategic objectives to achieve the objectives of the Saudi Green Initiative, Saudi Vision 2030, and improving quality of life.

Prince Harry Is in Angola to Raise Awareness for Land Mine Clearing, Repeating Diana’s 1997 Trip

Britain's Prince Harry remotely detonates a landmine at a minefield during a visit to see the work of landmine clearance charity the Halo Trust in Dirico, Angola, Sept. 27, 2019. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP, Pool)

00:37-16 July 2025 AD ـ 21 Muharram 1447 AH

Prince Harry Is in Angola to Raise Awareness for Land Mine Clearing, Repeating Diana’s 1997 Trip

Prince Harry visited the African nation of Angola on Tuesday with a land mine clearing charity, repeating a famous trip his mother made in 1997.

Harry, the Duke of Sussex, met with Angolan President João Lourenço on Tuesday at the start of his trip, according to a statement from the Halo Trust, an organization that works to clear land mines from old warzones.

Princess Diana visited Angola with the Halo Trust in January 1997, just seven months before she was killed in a Paris car crash. Diana was famously photographed on that trip wearing protective equipment and walking through an active minefield during a break in fighting in Angola's long civil war.

Her advocacy helped mobilize support for a treaty banning land mines later that year.

This is not the first time Harry has followed in his mother's footsteps by raising awareness for the Halo Trust's work. He also visited the southern African country in 2019 for a land mine clearing project. British media reported that Harry traveled to Angola this week without his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

Halo Trust CEO James Cowan said in a statement Tuesday that he and Harry met with Lourenço to discuss continued demining efforts in Angola and thanked the president for his support for that work.

Angola was torn apart by a 27-year civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 2002, with some brief and fragile periods of peace in between.

The Halo Trust says there are estimates that around 80,000 Angolans have been killed or injured by land mines during and after the war, although there are no exact figures. The organization says just over 1,000 minefields covering an estimated 67 square kilometers (26 square miles) still needed to be cleared at the end of 2024.

Angola had set itself a goal to be land mine-free by 2025.

Imam Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Plants Over 1 Million Trees, Shrubs During First Half of 2024