Saudi forestation center surveys more than 112,000 hectares for forest inventory

The National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification, with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization, has begun implementing a national forest inventory project in the Al-Baha region.

This project aims to map, measure and monitor all forests in the region, as well as to discuss an action plan and engage stakeholders in goal-setting.

National teams have successfully surveyed 112,504.60 hectares to determine the forest cover area in Saudi Arabia, identify tree species, dominance and density per hectare in different environmental regions in the Kingdom, and establish a forest resource database to enable obtaining the required information following international agreements with the World Forest Inventory, the World Forest Forum, the Convention on Climate Change (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention to Combat Desertification.

This step marks the first stage of implementing the forest inventory project in eight regions across the Kingdom to study their conditions accurately, identify plant species, density and condition, and ultimately develop vegetation cover, combat pests and invasive species, and contribute to carbon storage to address climate change.