The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has presented the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration at 10th International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environments (ICWRAE) held at the King Saud University, organized by the Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research; the Saudi Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Agriculture; and King Saud University among other partners. The 10th conference took place from 26 to 28 December 2022. The presentation on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was made within the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) session of the conference held on Monday 26 December 2022. The session was coordinated by the National Center for Vegetation Cover (NCVC) and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and featured several presentations on the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI). The presentation was made by Jeremiah Njeru, FAO Saudi Arabia Natural Resources Chief Technical Advisor and introduced Decade aims and features, structure and organization, task forces, pathways for action, and partnership framework. The linkages with SGI were highlighted and the ways the SGI contributes to the Decade elaborated. Saudi Green Initiative and UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration The Saudi Green Initiative directly supports the aims of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. It contributes to all three core aims of the Decade: (i) Building more political will for restoration; (ii) Committing and actioning ambitious restoration programs; and (iii) Supporting implementation of the Rio Conventions and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The SGI and UN restoration decade have mutual benefits. The Decade helps position SGI and its contribution to the global restoration efforts; provides a platform for SGI to collaborate with other global restoration initiatives; provides knowledge and lessons to SGI; strengthens SGI through access to restoration tools and resources; and increases awareness and communication on the SGI globally. The SGI supports the Decade by demonstrating national restoration leadership through ambitious projects and targets and provides lessons and experiences to other countries especially those with challenging dry environments. Localizing the Decade in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Near East Region The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was launched in the region on 23rd March 2022 by UNEP office for West Asia and FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa, together with the establishment of its Regional Task Force and identification of Country Focal Points. The launch engaged many partners in the region including governments, local and international development organizations, academic institutions, and private sectors among others. Following the launch, a series of meetings were organized to introduce the Decade and prepare implementation plans. FAO and UNEP have taken every opportunity to lobby the government, public and private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders to actively participate in the Decade programs and activities. To start off the regional Decade program, a series of webinars on different restoration topics have been organized throughout 2022. Currently, UNEP and FAO are calling for Restoration Actors from countries in the region and supporting their engagement with the Decade. Resources for Local Action The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration provides many tools and resources to support restoration action on the ground. The tools and resources are the results of the work of five core task forces including restoration science led by IUCN, financing led by the World Bank, best practices led by FAO, Monitoring led by FAO, and Youth engagement self-organized by youth organizations. To access restoration resources and tools, visit the decade website (www.decadeonrestoration.org). The publications section provides an interactive search interface where you can search for resources by year, ecosystem type, resource type, and affiliate organizations. The website also includes a communication materials section with communication resources for media engagements. The resources include editable files that you can download and adapt for your own restoration media campaigns. For more information on the Decade in KSA, you can contact FAO KSA Decade focal point (Jeremiah Njeru) by email (Jeremiah.njeru@fao.org). About the Sustainable Rural Agriculture Development Project (SRADP) FAO participation in the ICWRAE was organized within the framework of the Sustainable Rural Agriculture Development Project (SRADP). SRADP is a multi-disciplinary project covering nine components strategically formulated in alignment with the National Transformation Program under the Saudi Vision 2030 and with the aim to contribute towards achieving the national development goal of sustainable rural agricultural development in the Kingdom. The project has been formulated by FAO and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and includes components on natural resources management including forests, rangelands, national parks, and land desertification.

Rainfed cereals mainly sorghum and millet are widely recognised as smart crops for drought tolerance, climate adaptability, and high nutritional values and cultivated mainly in dryland regions of the world.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, sorghum, millet and sesame are grown in over 70,000 ha mainly in the southwestern region mainly by small scale farmers and can be an important source of grains and oil as well as livestock forage and feed products.
In the framework of the ongoing project of the Sustainable Rural Agricultural Development
Programme (SRAD) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the importance of rainfed cereals on a national scale is reinforced by bringing together stakeholders to promote cooperation and partnership through consultation and aligning the strategic development of rainfed cereals sector and its contribution to food security and transformation. With strong collaboration with Saudi Reef and the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Agriculture (MoEWA), the SRAD project organized the first ‘’National Workshop on Rainfed Cereals Production for Food Security and Sustainable Rural Development” recently in Riyadh.
Increasing the productivity and strengthening the value chain of the three targeted crops namely sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and sesame (Sesamum indicum) were the main agenda of the workshop. Some 14 renowned experts were invited from international research centres, including the ICRISAT and ICARDA. About 70 participants attended the workshop including from FAO and several international research centres (ICARDA and ICRISAT) national universities and local institutions.
His Excellency Vice Minister of MoEWA, Mansour Al-Mushaiti in his opening remarks emphasized the importance of present and future contributions of rainfed cereals in the Kingdom. The Deputy Minister of the Department of Lands and Survey, Saleh Al-Luhaidan, and Secretary General Reef Saudi, Ghassan Bakri reiterated the importance of strengthening the role of smallholders-led agriculture growth and development for food security. Mr. Ayman Omer, FAO Saudi Arabia Project Director extended his compliment to the Kingdom’s strong support and recognised its noble initiative is not only towards rural agricultural development but also for food security in particular in light of the current food availability issues due to the ongoing conflict. A panel discussion facilitated by Dr Abdullah Alhendi, National Expert for Rainfed cereals and Mr Khatran, MoEWA Agriculture Expert, was attended by some progressive participation of sorghum and millet farmers from the Kingdom.
The workshop successfully delivered and shared sessions covering i) agri-food systems and rainfed cereal production trends, ii) good practices and advances in rainfed cereals and iii) the role of rural institutions and value chain development for rainfed cereals. Dr Hafiz Muminjanov, FAO Technical Adviser, Plant Production and Protection, in his keynote outlined FAO’s support to members for strengthening dryland agriculture and the One Country One Product initiative for sustainable agrifood systems. The invited experts reviewed the global trends, scientific advances and good practices of the three crops, and provided recommendations for the management of dryland agriculture, rural development in the Kingdom and across the Near East and North Africa region. The importance of the conservation of genetic resources, and inputs, the role of credits, insurance and rural institutions for innovations, income generation and value addition were also discussed. Dr. Kakoli Ghosh, CTA, facilitated the workshop and concluded that it laid a good foundation for showcasing success stories and celebrating the International Year of Millets next year. ​

The United Nations (UN) Today marks the 77th anniversary of the ratification of the UN Charter, which was signed in 1945 by the representatives of 50 countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The theme of UN Day in Saudi Arabia this year, “Together Towards the Goals”, is also a celebration of 77 years of the evolving partnership with the Government of Saudi Arabia, which entered a new stage this year with the signing of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022 - 2026. The UN day celebrations this year are in partnership with the UN Global Compact Local Network and is sponsored by its members: Napco National and Tanmiah. The UN in Saudi Arabia and its partners are celebrating UN Day this year by holding panel discussions on Sustainable Development Goal 17 - Partnerships for the Goals, which focuses on strengthening the means of implementation, and the revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development by bringing together public and private sector leaders, philanthropists, prominent civil society actors and academia representatives. The purpose of the discussions is to identify and unlock potential partnerships through sustainable development advocacy and connecting local stakeholders supporting the achievement of the Saudi Vision 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. During her opening remarks, H.E Nathalie Fustier, United Nations Resident Coordinator said: “In Saudi Arabia, partnership has been instrumental in the progress we have made in sustainable development. This reminds us that the UN 2030 Agenda will only succeed if all actors from every segment of society work together to drive forward the real change required to deliver the SDGs and Leave No One Behind.” His Excellency Hattan Bin Samman, General Supervisor of Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Economy and Planning highlighted "Our Partnership with the UN while longstanding is starting a new era today. An era defined by mutual delivery, achievement, and impact on the local, regional and international levels.” The panel discussions kicked off with a thematic session, discussing corporate sustainability and the role of the private sector, convened, and moderated by the UN Global Compact Network Saudi Arabia with panelists members of the Global Compact Network in Saudi Arabia including Tanmiah, Sadara and Sabic. The key highlight of the panel discussion revolved around defining sustainability from a business perspective and how it is embedded across different sectors and how it creates impact and business value. Additionally, they emphasized the role of the UN Global Compact in supporting local companies throughout their sustainability journey which reflects on advancing the agenda of SDGs in the Kingdom. The following session, moderated by UNICEF, highlighted the critical role of civil society in supporting the government to deliver on sustainable development, such as realizing the SDGs and Vision 2030. The civil society panelists discussed how the SDGs have provided an opportunity for organizations to engage with and motivate grass roots participation across the Kingdom, with a focus on the engagement of young people. The final session, moderated by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focused on emerging and innovative approaches of partnerships with Academia. The session included representatives from different levels of the academia ecosystem: ministerial, faculty and student. The conversation highlighted how academia is shaping the future of the innovation ecosystem towards the SDGs in Saudi Arabia, what are the infrastructure and tools needed to create a knowledge economy, and how can young Saudi academics play an active role towards achieving the SDGs. The outcomes and the suggestions of the panel discussions highlighted the need for implementation at the ground level to accelerate KSA’s path to achieving the Saudi Vision 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the need to bridge the gap between the communities and government efforts by the establishment of new long-term and sustainable local partnerships between stakeholders and UN agencies.   Click here for more photos of UN Day Celebration 

This year’s World Food Day (WFD) celebration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was successfully organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture (MoEWA), the Governorate of Jazan, and FAO. The celebration was organized in the North Corniche of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, and brought together farmers, entrepreneurs, policy and decision-makers, civil society, academia, and other stakeholders to work hand-in-hand toward the transformation of agrifood systems. The World Food Day in Saudi Arabia was honoured under the patronage of His Highness, the Emir of Jazan, Muhammad bin Nasser, and launched in the presence of the Emirate’s Undersecretary, His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Al-Saqr, and His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Al-Atif, the Director of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture’s branch in Jazan Region. Opening the event, Mohammed Al-Atif highlighted that the celebration in Saudi Arabia aims to deepen community awareness and encourage interest in agricultural development and the preservation of natural resources. In his speech, Ayman Omer, Director of FAO Saudi Arabia’s Programme (OiC), emphasized the importance of transforming agrifood systems to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind. He highlighted that the agricultural sector is a fundamental pillar of food security and the national economy in the Kingdom, underscored the significant role of smallholders, and valued the tremendous efforts by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in supporting farmers, encouraging investors and preserving natural resources, and promoting sustainable rural agricultural development. The event continued with displaying the recorded video of FAO Director-General reminding everyone of the high need to accelerate the transformation of agrifood systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leaving no one behind. The two-day event on 16-17 October 2022, was structured into workshops, three practical training sessions organized in demonstration farms, and an exhibition, all designed to highlight specific themes under the Four Betters: Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and better life. The workshops discussed the role of agrotourism in rural transformation, the challenges and opportunities of the sesame value chain in Saudi Arabia, the crucial integration of sustainable food production with the environment, and examples of FAO work on the Four Betters in the Kingdom. Three interactive training sessions were simultaneously conducted at three local demonstration farms displaying and discussing technologies and good practices in livestock management, beekeeping, and coffee production. The WFD exhibition showed the innovative work of twenty organizations representing government’s flagship programmes (including the Sustainable Rural Agriculture Development – Saudi REEF), public funds, private sector, UN agencies, agriculture cooperatives, research centres, universities, and civil society organizations. The two-day event was also enlivened by some local and authentic Saudi cultural dances performed by local youth.  Throughout the event, a youth cooperative namely “Moeen Volunteer Association for Community Service in Jazan” supported the success of this memorable event.