Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is trying to divert the international community’s view of the Saudi human rights case by riding on the environmental issue, which is one of the most important pillars of the country’s domestic and foreign policy these days.
Following the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to portray himself as a new figure on the international stage, he presented two regional and domestic “green cover” designs.
Last March 27, Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, unveiled two major environmental and climate change initiatives.
Bin salman’s first plan was called “Green-headed Saudi Arabia”. According to the plan, 10 billion trees will be planted inside Saudi Arabia. If implemented, 40 million hectares of barren lands in Saudi Arabia will be rehabilitated.
But the second plan of the Saudi Crown Prince is called “Green Middle East”. The plan calls for 40 billion trees to be planted in the Middle East. As Riyadh claims, this will be the largest “tree planting” project in the world.
As Bin Salman claims, the purpose of implementing these two plans is to reduce the emission of toxic gases in the region and fight the climate crisis.
Following the announcement of bin Salman’s Middle East plan, the Saudis held talks with Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan and Iraq, seeking to give it a global dimension by drawing the attention of countries such as France, Britain, Russia and Pakistan.
The two plans are part of Mohammed bin Salman’s vision for 2030, which aims to diversify the Saudi economy’s revenue sources and reduce its reliance on oil, whose global price has plummeted recently.
Earlier, Bin Salman had unveiled the plan of the city of “Z Line” in the framework of the plan of “Neom”. In this project, a 170-kilometer “city of millions” is to be built, relying on preserving 95% of the natural texture and structure of the areas covered by the project.
The question is, why does bin Salman focus on the “environment” at this point in time?
Political observers believe that the Saudi Crown Prince is trying to divert the international community’s view of the Saudi human rights case by riding on the environmental issue, which is one of the most important pillars of domestic and foreign policy in the world these days.
The reason for this attention becomes even clearer when we know that the environment was one of the most important election programs of US President Joe Biden, as was the case of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashgeji, a Saudi opposition journalist.
Since coming to power, Mohammed bin Salman has always tried to present himself as a “reformist” in an attempt to change the “conservative” identity of Saudi Arabia, Allowing women to drive, opening cinemas, holding celebrations with singers, sports competitions, and recently changing educational policies and textbook content under the pretext of combating the promotion of extremism are some of the measures that the Saudi Crown Prince has tried to implement.