Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 6 October, 2023: The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) will participate in the United Nations Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week 2023 as part of key discussions, workshops, and exhibitions focused on addressing the region’s most pressing environmental challenges.

 

MENA Climate Week will be hosted by the government of Saudi Arabia from 8-12 October in Riyadh in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The event will assess where the region stands on climate action and support, identify gaps, and explore pathways to solutions.

 

Contributing its strategic intentions and achievements to debates on environmental protection and sustainable development, RCU will showcase its holistic approach to the regeneration of AlUla County as a leading global destination for cultural and natural heritage as part of MENA Climate Week’s ‘Societies, Health, Livelihoods, and Economies’ section.

 

This will help to share RCU’s key ideas and strategies ahead of a visit to AlUla by a delegation from MENA Climate Week. During the trip, the delegation will see firsthand RCU’s work to restore nature’s balance within a destination that is rejuvenating people’s connection to the nature, culture, and heritage of northwest Arabia, with a goal of achieving net zero carbon (for local emissions) by 2035.

 

From the ground up, RCU is comprehensively regenerating AlUla County as a green tourist destination with development following the principles of the AlUla Sustainability Charter, which include but are not limited to:

By putting these principles into action, RCU is employing a holistic approach to sustainability. A key example is RCU's commitment to the revival of AlUla’s Cultural Oasis. A 9km expanse of land that had become neglected over the years, the oasis has been revitalised as a home to sustainably run eco-gardens and farms, with abundant palm and banana trees offering fresh produce and ample shade for community activities and events.

RCU’s comprehensive regeneration project also includes re-greening AlUla through direct planting as well as policies and management controls allowing nature to revive itself. Having planted nearly 17,000 native trees and plants, including 39 species with 94% survival rate, with an aim of supporting restoration of 40M hectares of land and planting 10B trees in coming decades, AlUla’s restoration efforts are well underway.

 

In order to establish and sustainably manage nature reserves, RCU is monitoring AlUla’s unique flora and fauna and implementing a range of initiatives including captive breeding, environmental assessment, habitat restoration, creation of 12,500 km2 of protected land across five nature reserves, standard operating procedures for protected area management planning, and the Arabian Leopard Programme to save this critically endangered species.

 

From waste management to water management, a blueprint establishing the healthy connection of humans and the ecosystem is integrated into all levels of development in AlUla. RCU’s grassroots-to-apex regenerative approach unites policies, plans and practices, demonstrating a higher standard of developing, implementing, and applying innovative alternatives to challenging situations. These solutions include recycling organic waste through composting, implementing composting on a large scale, maximizing benefits of organic waste recycling, collecting and processing organic waste through innovative composting techniques, providing free, nutrient-rich compost to the farmers in AlUla, and improving soil structure to increase water retention and nutrient availability.

 

MENA Climate Week is a key opportunity for regional countries and other stakeholders to see where they are collectively making progress toward meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement – and where they are not – ahead of next month’s meeting of COP28 nations in Dubai. Importantly, MENA Climate Week will also host high-level discussions around climate solutions as part of a UN-led ‘global stocktake’ that will contribute to the framework of COP28, taking place from 30 November to 12 December.