Qutaiba bin Hamoud Al-Saadoun, director at the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture

Qutaiba bin Hamoud Al-Saadoun

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Updated 26 November 20

Qutaiba bin Hamoud Al-Saadoun is the director of the forestry and afforestation department at the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture (MEWA), where he also provides consultancy services.

In an interview with Al-Ekhbariya TV channel, he said that the MEWA was planning to replace imported trees with local ones. His comments came as the ministry on Saturday launched its Let’s Make it Green campaign which aims to plant 10 million trees throughout the Kingdom by the end of April.

He pointed out that planting trees not only had health, environmental, and aesthetic benefits for people but also helped to reduce the effects of desertification, develop natural habitats, and improve quality of life.

Al-Saadoun gained a bachelor’s degree in plant and environmental sciences from King Saud University’s college of sciences in 1985 and five years later a master’s degree in fungi environment of wild medicinal plants from the same university.

In 1986, he joined the Saudi Wildlife Authority where he gained extensive experience in planning and environmental sciences over a period of more than three decades. He held several positions with the authority including as director of its reserved areas planning department, and director of studies and research.

The adviser, who was the first Saudi to obtain a certificate in reserved area management, has also worked in the fields of environmental strategies, planning, and management of nature reserves and parks.

During his career, Al-Saadoun has taken part in scientific studies, and the conservation of biodiversity in Saudi deserts, coastal plains, mountains, coasts, and islands. He is often invited by media channels to comment on MEWA initiatives to conserve agricultural resources and combat desertification.

Over 30 years, he has gained wide supervision skills through his role as an environmental overseer of licenses requested by mining, exploration, and development project applicants and he has been responsible for socio-economic studies and environmental assessment of sites.

Al-Saadoun, an internationally certified environmental planner, represented Saudi Arabia at the international Convention on Biological Diversity. He is a member of a range of global and local organizations and has founded a number of national bodies to help control unfair logging.