Restoring Gulf ecology cost Saudi Arabia $1.1 billion

The Kingdom has spent $1.1 billion on environmental projects to repair the damages caused by the 1991 Gulf War.
“Saudi Arabia planned and executed massive projects to rehabilitate and reconstruct the delicate desert and coastal environmental resources in the Kingdom after the Gulf War,” said Prince Turki bin Nasser, president of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment Protection, on the occasion of the Kingdom’s fulfillment of its environmental rehabilitation obligations as stipulated by the United Nations Committee for Gulf War Damages in Geneva recently.
The prince asserted that the Kingdom has been focusing on future sustainability while laying down the principles of environmental reconstruction.
“The amount was spent on combating desertification with measures such as tree planting, removing sediments of asphalt from coastal regions and planting mangroves as well as programs that create a cultural imprint on environmental protection activities such as setting up desert centers, an Oceanic Applications Research Center, coastal parks and green areas. In addition, we are launching a permanent pasture administration and working on preserving the natural environment for future generations,” he said.
The prince described the impact made by the Gulf War in 1991 to the region’s unique ecology as unprecedented.