The Madinah Municipality in Saudi Arabia has launched a Green City Initiative to expand green spaces across the city, the state Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Monday, 20 October 2025. The initiative aims to plant 2.1 million trees across Madinah to increase vegetation cover, reduce carbon emissions, lower temperatures and improve the urban landscape.
What the initiative includes
According to the SPA report, as carried by Arab News, the initiative also seeks to make better use of natural resources and improve residents' well-being. Vegetation will be expanded along roads, in parks and in neighbourhoods, and residents will be encouraged to take part in environmental volunteering.
The project relies on digital tools: smart tree tagging will be used to monitor the growth and health of each tree. The municipality said the work is meant to strengthen Madinah's leading position in urban greening.
Part of the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030
The report said the Madinah project is aligned with the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030. According to the Saudi Green Initiative's website, the national initiative was launched in 2021, following the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016, under the patronage of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. It has three overarching targets: reducing emissions, afforestation and land regeneration, and protecting land and sea.
The website describes a promise to rehabilitate more than 74 million hectares of land over the coming decades. Its aims for 2030 include more than 600 million trees planted and 30 percent of Saudi land and sea protected.
Greening a city with a desert climate
Madinah lies in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Madinah Province and the second holiest city in Islam after Makkah, home to the Prophet's Mosque (al-Masjid an-Nabawi) and the Quba Mosque, regarded as the first mosque in Islamic history. Its population in 2022 was 1,477,023, and the city covers 589 square kilometres, of which 293 square kilometres is urban area.
Madinah has a hot desert climate. Summer daytime temperatures average about 43 degrees Celsius, temperatures above 45 degrees are not unusual between June and September, and rainfall is very low. Lowering temperatures is one of the initiative's stated aims.
The municipality said the initiative would also enrich the city's tourism experience and position Madinah as a model for sustainable green cities, balancing its Islamic heritage with modern sustainability goals.
Photo: Mondephile / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, Arab News, Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Green Initiative, Wikipedia
Comments
(0)