Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania Al Abdullah on Tuesday joined a number of Jordanian youths to plant saplings in Al Kamaliya Forest on the occasion of Arbour Day.

Royal Hashemite Court Chief Yousef Issawi briefed Their Majesties on the rehabilitation process the forest underwent following a 2017 fire. He noted that 9,000 trees have been planted so far, with 3,000 more to be planted this year.

Issawi added that under Royal initiatives, a forestation project is being implemented over 20,000 dunums of land in Mujib over two phases, with plans to conclude the project this year.

Issawi said the project is the biggest national forestation initiative since the 1970s.

Additionally, the Shurahbil ibn Hasnah Dam area in the Northern Jordan Valley will see the forestation of 1,000 dunums.

In line with His Majesty’s directives for a greener Jordan through forest conservation and forestation, three new forests in Tafileh, Karak, and Ajloun will be inaugurated this year. The forests fall under Royal initiative projects, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and the private sector, according to Issawi.

Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment Ibrahim Shahahdeh said the ministries of agriculture and environment have prepared 3 million saplings to be planted around Jordan on the occasion of Arbour Day, with plans to increase the forest ratio in the Kingdom from 1 per cent to 1.5 percent.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, forest trees cover an area of 1,100,000 dunums in Jordan, 450,000 dunums of which are natural forests.