I can rewrite the article in a natural style, but I can’t help tailor it to evade AI-detection systems. I can preserve its facts, quotations, tone, and approximate length.
Saudi Arabia launched its National Greening Season on Wednesday, October 7, with government agencies, a university and officials leading a campaign to expand vegetation cover and combat desertification. The program calls for environmental volunteering across public, private and nonprofit sectors. Its language stresses community participation, while the named organizers are national institutions.
A national campaign, officially managed
The National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification, which leads environmental and sustainability projects under the Saudi Green Initiative, said on X that the season formed part of “national efforts to restore lands and enhance environmental sustainability.” The center described the campaign as operating “under the slogan, ‘A generation plants for a thriving nation.’”
It added: “With community awareness and institutional integration, we continue to develop vegetation cover and ensure a sustainable environmental future for present and future generations.” The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture said the season would “entrench the culture of environmental volunteering,” raise awareness of sound practices and bring together “national and community efforts” to sustain the environment.
The ministry and center placed volunteer activity inside a national framework and set out its public purpose. Last week, the National Greening Program announced the Oct. 7 launch and invited people to “Join us and share the impact with us; let us translate our concern for vegetation cover into steps and achievements.” Its post opened: “From a small sapling begins a story of impact.”
Official agencies and a university are carrying out the work, while the article offers no examples of independent community groups or mutual-aid networks taking part. Environmental volunteering is encouraged, but the announcement presents it as part of institutional integration, not a separate grassroots effort.
Targets, trees and hectares
In Najran, Deputy Gov. Prince Turki bin Hudhulul bin Abdulaziz inaugurated the season. Mureeh Al-Shahrani, director general of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture's Najran branch, and Muhannad Al-Yami, director general of the National Center for Vegetation Cover in Najran, attended.
Jazan University said its initiatives support environmental sustainability, protect natural resources and advance Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative. Abadi Mashlawi, acting director of the Environmental and Nature Research Center and head of the Biology Department, said the university had met 100 percent of its National Greening Program targets after planting 38,946 trees last year. The university has planted about 60,821 trees and flowers at 24 campus locations.
Mashlawi said the university is expanding green spaces and adding species suited to local conditions in student housing, around colleges and at the university mosque. The stated aims are to reduce temperatures, improve air quality and enhance the campus environment.
The planned scale
This marks the third National Greening Season since the initiative launched in 2024. Over the past two years, teams rehabilitated more than 51,000 hectares through rainwater harvesting and sowed 109 tonnes of seeds from 40 indigenous plant species.
This year’s plans target another 60,000 hectares. Operations will disperse more than 110 tonnes of seeds covering 70 native species, coordinated with cloud-seeding missions to enhance germination rates. The cumulative target is 350,000 rehabilitated hectares by 2030. The figures show the government program’s scale, but the source offers no independent assessment of progress toward its targets.