ALULA — Coinciding with the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, Saudi Arabia is highlighting its efforts to enhance biodiversity, restore natural ecosystems, and combat land degradation.Among the Kingdom’s notable initiatives are AlUla’s environmental programs, which focus on rehabilitating natural rangelands and planting native vegetation to restore ecosystems and curb desertification.
The efforts have successfully rehabilitated more than 5,100 hectares of natural rangelands under habitat protection programs, as well as planted more than 530,000 seedlings representing 60 native plant species. AlUla has also recorded notable progress in environmental recovery indicators, with vegetation cover increasing from 6 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in 2025. The environmental efforts have also received international recognition through the inclusion of the Sharaan Nature Reserve on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Green List, in recognition of its biodiversity protection practices and management of natural areas in line with global standards.As part of AlUla’s Ecosystem Restoration Strategy for 2025–2035, these achievements aim to restore and rehabilitate more than 65,000 hectares of natural rangelands and plant more than 10 million native seedlings, supporting the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2035.
