Saxaul Tree: Saudi Arabia Use This Drought-surviving Tree for Climate Defence

As drought ravages, the Middle East and Saudi Arabian environmental activist Abdullah Abduljabar sees the desert as the best place.

Saxaul (Haloxylon) trees only produce seeds when dry, opening a window for more plantings in the vast wilderness of Qassim Kingdom.

For centuries, millions of trees, commonly known by their Arabic name Al-Ghadha, served as firewood, animal feed, and shelter from the desert heat to the Bedouin ancestors of today's Saudi Arabia.

These trees bind the sands and help constrain sandstorms

(Photo : EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP via Getty Images)

Abduljabar, vice president of the Environmental Association Al Ghadha, said his organization plans to plant 250,000 drought-resistant trees in Unaizah in the Central Qassim region this year.

"Haloxylon is a legacy of the Unaiza people. One of its advantages is that it retains sand," Abdul Jabbar said as per Reuters.

Planting Saxaul trees is part of the Saudi Arabian Government's Green Initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions, pollution, and land degradation.

The kingdom aims to plant 10 billion trees in the coming decades as part of an ambitious campaign announced last year by its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The country also plans to work with other Arab countries to plant another 40 billion trees in the Middle East.

According to Reuters, Al-Ghadha association president Majed Alsolaim said that "The saxaul tree has many qualities, one of the most important ones is that it doesn't need a lot of water, that's why people in Unaizah have taken care of it to become an environmental symbol for this region."

Related article: Saudi Arabia to Plant 50 Billion Trees to Reduce Carbon Emissions by 60% in 2030

Saxaul tree and its importance

Saxaul includes three closely related species, including Haloxylon ammodendron, Haloxylon aphyllum, and Haloxylon persicum.

All species have developed considerable tolerance to drought, wind, salt, and limited nitrogen.

According to DesertUSA, an adult Haloxylon is typically about 6-12 feet tall. Its trunks and branches are both heavy and coarse, bent and knotted, with thick, spongy, water-saturated bark.

Mature plants have a succulent root system, reach water both laterally and deeply, and are more successful in sandy than coarse soils and these plants produce small yellow flowers.

The leaves are so small that they may not be immediately visible. This helps to minimize the loss of water due to evaporation in a desert environment.

As per Reuters, many countries in the Middle East suffer from rising temperatures and long-term, more frequent droughts that are putting pressure on water supply and food production.

Saxaul can survive for months without water droplets and thrives in particularly harsh environments where temperatures can rise to 58 degrees Celsius (136 ° F).

The bay is one of the hottest places on earth.

The declining number of saxaul trees

As per DesertUSA, over the last few decades, Haloxylon forests have shrunk dramatically in many areas of their range, both in coverage and growth.

It seems to be suffering from climate change, which may increase desert dryness even beyond the tolerance of Saxaul.

Undoubtedly, Haloxylon declined as more and more people turned to plant wood for fuel rather than using increasingly expensive coal and petroleum-based products.

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