The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Increases Efforts to Protect Mangrove Forests Vital to Marine Environment

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is bolstering efforts to support the cultivation of mangroves, which play an essential role in the marine environment. Through coordinated actions such as the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) under Vision 2030, and collaborations of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture with the National Centre for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification as well as Red Sea Global (RSG) have all launched action plans to aid mangrove conservation and planting of the key plants. These efforts are crucial not only for protecting biodiversity, enhancing coastal resilience against erosion, and climate change.

Mangroves have a crucial role in the environment absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reducing greenhouse gases and slowing climate change. Mangroves serve as important habitats for marine creatures, preventing erosion, protecting coastlines, purifying water from pollution, and storing carbon to combat climate change. Although mangroves are pivotal to marine ecology, they are currently only found in 0.5% of global costal areas due to issues such as pollution and overfishing. The Kingdom is proactively working to build solutions to address this through various avenues of research, conservation, and initiatives.

Saudi Arabia understands the essential role that mangroves have, and as a result have mobilised efforts through Ministry partnerships, and entities to come together for targeted initiatives. Under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 roadmap for the country, it introduced the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) an ambitious national initiative aimed to protect the environment, and a specific goal within the SGI is to plant over 100 million mangroves. Additionally, in line with these ambitions the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has partnered with the National Centre for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification to create initiatives regionally and internationally facilitating research and planting ventures of mangroves. This partnership will see the protecting and growing of mangroves that will also raise awareness on the significance and mobilise grass-root efforts of volunteers. Furthermore, Red Sea Global (RSG) has opened the Red Sea Mangrove Nursery that expects to grow 2 million more this year. This is part of larger-scale program, ‘From People to Planet,’ that invites visitors, community partners, and local community stakeholders. 

Saudi Arabia, as a Council Member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is dedicated to advancing sustainability and protection of the marine environment on a global scale. Collaborating with other IMO Member States, the Kingdom is committed to developing a sustainable maritime industry in line with Vision 2030 objectives. Saudi Arabia creates initiatives and aligns with global standards and regulations to ensure that the maritime operations contribute positively to the costal preservation. These proactive efforts further exemplify Saudi Arabia’s leadership and commitment to fostering a healthy and resilient marine ecosystems endeavor in line with the IMO aims.

Saudi Arabia is making notable progress in safeguarding and enhancing its mangrove population through collaborative efforts domestically and abroad. Through acknowledging the vital role of mangroves in the marine ecosystems, the Kingdom is actively engaged in regional and global initiatives to ensure a sustainable future for coastal areas, aligning with its broader Vision 2030 goals for environmental sustainability.