Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Space Commission, Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha stressed that the Kingdom, as one of the G20 Member States and a major source of energy in the world, is taking the lead in building a center for climate technologies in the Middle East and North Africa.
Al-Swaha made his remarks on Saturday during his participation in a panel discussion, "How will the green economy change the world in the future", as part the Saudi Green Initiative forum.
He said that the world must rally around supporting science and technology if it wanted to address climate change.
“If the world continues to follow the current policies and technologies, our zero-emissions efficiency will be 30-40% lower, and the only way to address the zero-emissions gap is to increase investment in new, widespread technologies,” he urged.
Moreover, Al-Swaha highlighted how drones can plant trees ten times faster than traditional methods and at a lower cost 20% of the cost of manual farming.
He also underscored the most important lessons learned in the early stages of using technology in the climate field, using artificial intelligence and drones to support and accelerate reforestation, and the extent of the success of such technologies in all regions of the world.
The minister underlined the ways of success of afforestation projects and how trees can best be used to combat climate change, citing the importance of international cooperation that can ensure a rapid, comprehensive expansion of the cultivation of trees that are also planted specifically in low afforestation areas of the world in order to combat desertification.
