Egypt plants 500K trees in rural villages within national initiative

CAIRO – 2 January 2024: The Ministry of Environment announced Tuesday the completion of the cultivation of 500,000 trees in rural villages nationwide within the 100 Million Trees initiative.

Until present, a total of 1.3 million trees have been planted within the initiative scheduled for completion in 2030. Those include 100,000 trees in schools, colleges and universities; 4,400 trees in Cairo's Shaq Al Thoban industrial zone; 6,500 trees on the Suez Road; and, 3,500 trees in each of Hurghada International Airport and Sharm El Sheikh International Airport.

The Ministry of Local Development revealed in April that 7.2 million trees out of 7.7 million trees targeted for FY2022/2023 had been planted within the presidential initiative "100 Million Trees" and that is planned to be completed over seven years.

The ministry noted that it is contributing to the initiative by cultivating 80 million trees, while the rest will be grown by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Housing. The 100 million trees will be cultivated across 9,900 locations on a total area of 6,600 feddans, dispersed nationwide, constituting forests and parks that are irrigated by treated wastewater.

The statement revealed the species of trees cultivated, and those are camphor, casuarina, conocarps, orange, guava, olive, bologna, white poplar, mahogany, lemon, and pomegranate among others.