The forests of Saudi Arabia are not famous, yet they exist. They only cover a 1.3 percent of the country’s area, but they play a significant t role in the local ecosystem. Unfortunately, these e forests  are dwindling and witnessing degradation at an alarming rate, according to an environmental advocate at King Saud University (KSU).

Prof. Mirza Baig, a Canadian professor at KSU’s Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Society told during an interview to Arab News that Saudi Arabia’s forest are facing degradation is because of the natural factors and anthropogenic features like very low and variable rainfall, high temperatures, low humidity, lack of rivers and scarcity of underground water.

“All these factors hamper the natural growth of forests making tree planting programs very expensive,” he noted adding, “The excessive cutting of trees, overgrazing, deforestation, deterioration of natural pastures and expansion of agricultural lands are considered among the main challenges for sustainable development of the forests in Saudi Arabia.
According to him, several projects were initiated with the objective to grow more trees, re-plant forests and to realize more wood from the existing forests in the Kingdom. However such initiatives would not be successful without the involvement of the native people. Several studies conducted by KSU, revealed that Saudis have a lot of appreciation and liking for forests attaching great importance to them. “They seem more than willing to assist the Kingdom and participate in the initiatives aimed at managing and protecting the forests to keep them productive and protected for their future generations,” he said. “People living near the forests were quite aware of the potential environmental, ecological and economic benefits of the forests. They were eager to learn more scientific and technical advanced techniques needed for the better management of the forests from all the stake-holders,” the study said.