— The Green Riyadh Program, one of the four mega projects in Riyadh, kicked off on Thursday with afforestation work in Al-Naseem neighborhood of the city. On December, the project started off in Al-Aziziyah neighborhood by planting 623,000 trees and bushes at 54 parks, 61 schools, 121 mosques, and 78 parking sites, as well as 176 kilometers of roads and walkways in the neighborhood. The works in Al-Naseem neighborhood include afforestation, the planting of trees and shrubs, and the establishment of parks and green areas. The designs have been developed based on global environmental standards that take local surroundings into consideration. The implementation of the plan will be accompanied by activities, including an introductory exhibition to raise residents’ awareness about the importance of greenery. The program aims at planting trees in more than 120 residential neighborhoods, where designs have been developed for this purpose based on global environmental standards that take into consideration the local environment. Green Riyadh contributes to realizing the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative of planting 10 billion trees across Saudi Arabia. The program seeks to plant 7.5 million trees in Riyadh and increase its green area to 9.1%, raising per capita green area from 1.7 square meters to 28 square meters, which equals around 16 times the current rate. It also aims to upgrade the urban environment of Riyadh by planting trees in residential neighborhoods. To ensure the sustainability of green spaces, the program seeks to create a network to irrigate green areas and reuse treated water up to one million cubic meters of water daily. — SG