Muscat – As part of its efforts to plant 10mn wild trees, the Environment Authority (EA) has carried out the third experiment of seeding wild trees using drones in the Wilayat of Bidiyah in North Sharqiyah governorate recently.

An official at EA, said, “The authority carried out the experiment of spreading seeds of wild trees using drones in Bidiyah in the presence of Sheikh Mahmoud bin Abdullah al Saidi, Wali of Bidiyah and officials from the Environment Authority.”

He added that the experiment of spreading seeds using drones comes after the first was carried out in Dhofar, and the second in one of the khors in the Wetland Reserve of Wusta. “These experiments come as part of the authority’s efforts to implement the national initiative to plant 10mn trees and employ modern technologies in the environmental field.”

In August 2021, EA, in cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), had implemented a project to plant 1mn mangrove seeds in the Wetland Reserve in the wilayat of Mahout, Al Wusta governorate, said the official.

According to the official, the authority also planted 6,500 mangrove saplings in various coastal areas in 2020. Mangroves are considered very important in maintaining ecological balance and preserving beaches from erosion while helping the growth of commercially valuable fish and other marine creatures.

The Environment Authority in Dhahirah governorate also planted 7,600 wild trees in the governorate in 2021.

Hamad bin Mohammed al Hashimi, director of the Environment Department in Dhahirah governorate, said that the authority aims to plant 40,000 wild trees in Dhahirah in 2022 in cooperation with private sector institutions and proactive citizens to achieve the national initiative to plant 10mn trees.

According to Hashimi the national initiative to plant 10mn trees was launched to plant the target number of trees within ten years, so that the departments of the Environment Authority in all governorates of the sultanate distribute seedlings of Omani wild trees such as Samar, Ghaf, Sidr, Talha, Shua and others to all parties and individuals in society in order to increase the area of ​​
vegetation cover and combat desertification.