NEWS
In the Presence of Shaikha Maram Bint Isa Al Khalifa, UoB Inaugurates the “Bahrain Fruit Garden” and Afforestation Within the Imitative “Forever Green”
Sakhir – University of Bahrain – Mansour Alwani
March 9, 2022
The University of Bahrain inaugurated On Wednesday March 09, 2022, the “Bahrain Fruit Garden” project in UoB, focusing on growing local environmentally friendly trees, in the presence of the Secretary-General of the National Initiative for the Development of the Agricultural Sector Shaikha Maram bint Isa Al Khalifa, and the President of the University of Bahrain Dr. Jawaher bint Shaheen AlMadhaki.
This project is part of the contribution of the University of Bahrain to the national campaign “Forever Green”, launched by the National Initiative for the Development of the Agricultural Sector through a national afforestation campaign, under the generous patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Consort of His Majesty the King, Chairperson of the Advisory Council for the National Initiative For the development of the Agricultural Sector, may God protect her.
Shaikha Maram bint Isa Al Khalifa lauded the efforts of the University of Bahrain in increasing its green area, describing the university as an oasis in the middle of the desert. She also commended the university’s interest in agriculture in general, which is reflected in its active annual participation in Bahrain International Garden Show and winning first places, as well as its care for diverse agriculture.
For her part, the President of the University of Bahrain lauded the “Forever Green” campaign, stressing the importance and the positive effects of this campaign on the Kingdom of Bahrain, in the environmental, aesthetic, cultural, life, and tourism aspects.
Dr. AlMudhahki stated, “We are seeking to ensure that the university has a leading and effective role in “Forever Green” campaign, through agricultural and research projects that achieve the goals of this ambitious campaign.”
For his part, the Chairman of the Coordinating Committee, Dr. Fouad Mohammad Al-Ansari, explained, “We will adopt the afforestation project at the University of Bahrain as a long term project to increase the green area on the university, improve the performance of the current green area in terms of rationalizing water consumption and providing shade and focus on increasing environmentally friendly areas to preserve the local wildlife in terms of providing food and shelter, provided that all of these objectives shall be conducted on green spaces that are beautiful, attractive and pleasant to the users of the premises of the university to increase environmental awareness.”
Dr. Al-Ansari added, “The afforestation project at the University of Bahrain will be conducted in two phases. The first of which is the “Bahrain Fruit Garden” project, where a specific land will be planted on an area of 4800 square meters, located behind the building of the College of Information Technology, and in the second of which more fruit and environmentally friendly trees will be planted.”
Dr. Al-Ansari explained that the local environmentally friendly fruit trees that will be planted include almond (Terminalia) and Jojoba, as well as trees medical trees such as neem (Azdurica), and Moringa, or evergreen and shade trees such as Ficus trees, or trees that can grow depending on groundwater and seasonal rainwater, such as Ghaf and Parkinsonian trees.
It is worthy to note that the national campaign for afforestation “Forever Green” was launched on October 20, 2021, under the generous patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Consort of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Bahrain and Chairperson of the Advisory Council of the National Initiative for the Development of Agricultural Sector, may God protect her, and aims to plant 27 sites until March of next year in the first phase of the campaign, on an area over 70,000 square meters, and more than 21,000 linear meters to plant more than 50 thousand trees and shrubs, distributed in the four governorates, namely ten sites in the Southern Governorate, six sites in the Northern Governorate, six sites in Muharraq Governorate, and five sites in the Capital Governorate, at an estimated cost of more than BHD half a million.
