22,000 wild trees planted as part of national drive in Ibri

Ibri: The Environment Authority in Al Dhahirah Governorate continues its efforts to achieve the “national initiative to plant 10 million wild trees” in various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, which was launched by the Authority with the aim of confronting the problem of climate change, combating desertification, and increasing the green area in the Sultanate of Oman. Which in turn contributes to solving the problem of high temperatures and providing habitats for other wildlife.

Despite the geographical challenges and the nature of the arid climate in the Al-Dhahirah Governorate, the Department of the Environment Authority in Al-Dhahirah managed to plant about 22,000 wild trees, varying between Sidr, Al-Ghaf, Talh, Al-Shu’a and Al-Qart in the various wilayats of the governorate.

Fahd bin Saeed Al-Nasseri, Director of the Environment Department in Al-Dhahirah Governorate, expresses the importance that the Environment Authority to achieve the goals of the national initiative, due to its environmental weight and positive environmental results, which it hopes to achieve in the coming years, indicating that the administration has developed an organized plan to provide seedlings and implement cultivation operations. In addition to intensifying awareness campaigns on the importance of the national initiative; Because of its results on the individual, society and environmental life in the governorate, where campaigns were implemented to highlight the goals of the initiative initially in the schools of the governorate through the General Directorate of Education, and opened the door to request seedlings for schools to plant in the schoolyard, in addition to distributing seedlings to students in order to plant them in home, and to inculcate a culture of caring for trees among students.

Department specialists also focused on periodic visits to schools to educate male and female students at various educational levels about the importance of Omani trees and wild plants, and what they are distinguished from in terms of environmental, cultural and economic aspects, with the ability to adapt to difficult environmental factors such as hot climate and lack of water resources, in addition to It also contributes to the creation of green spaces and natural places for hiking.

Al-Nasseri added that the cultivation operations that were carried out also included the sites of companies operating in the governorate, as well as crushers, quarries, and oil and gas companies in the deserts of Al-Dhahirah Governorate, as these places are a source of emissions of air pollutants, and therefore trees contribute significantly to mitigating them and softening the atmosphere in these sites, stressing that The administration continues to target industrial places and government departments, and some sites have been identified to build fences to plant these trees as part of the Commission’s plans in this regard.

Al-Nasseri also touched on the importance of individual initiatives by citizens in cultivating trees at the level of farms, home gardens and flats, as a citizen planted nearly 1,000 wild seedlings on his farm in Dhank state, and another citizen planted 226 seedlings in the state itself.

He stressed that there are some challenges, but the administration, in partnership with all segments of society and in cooperation with the competent authorities, will overcome them, praising the continuous cooperation between the General Directorate of Agricultural Wealth and Water Resources in the governorate, and the Omani Sidr Society by contributing to the planting of trees in support of the national efforts so that the administration can provide numbers To be cultivated in the coming period.

It is worth noting that the Environment Authority in Al Dhahirah Governorate is currently establishing a nursery for wild trees in the Wilayat of Ibri, in order to meet the growing demand for seedlings.