São Paulo – Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Global (RSG) is planning a giga-project in the desert. The project is an investment earmarked by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and is planning the “single most challenging horticultural endeavor ever attempted in human history.”
The nursery aims to raise over 25 million plants in the Red Sea Project and the destination AMAALA by 2030. It will also produce over 30 million seedlings, Arab News reported.
“If you think about 25 million plants in the time frame we’re talking about, it’s never been attempted before. It’s like the single most challenging horticultural endeavor ever attempted in human history in the middle of the desert,” according to Grant Shaw, senior nursery director at RSG.
The endeavor aims to reduce the reliance on importing foreign plant species and promoting the growth of native flora. Shaw said: “With our designers, we’ve looked at what can we use natively and then what can we enhance with some adaptive species.” The company has collected native seeds across the country and transplanted mature trees.
“Some of the species you see in this region will never be seen anywhere else in the world because they can’t grow elsewhere,” Shaw explained. Though the nursery mainly comprises plants native to Saudi Arabia, the giga-project has also been sourcing desert plant species worldwide, including Australia.
Saudi Arabia has successfully planted over 12 million trees in the past five years.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
