Amman, Aug 12 (Petra) -- HRH Princess Basma bint Ali, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Hashemite Fund for Development of the Jordan Badia and Founder of the Royal Botanical Garden, visited the rangeland restoration and native seed conservation project in the Safawi and Azraq regions on Wednesday following the completion of its first phase.

The initiative, implemented by the Royal Botanical Garden and funded by the Ministry of Environment's Environmental Compensation Program, aims to restore rangelands and conserve native plant seeds across the Jordanian Badia to support livestock and preserve pastoral ecosystems.

Princess Basma stated that the project represents a significant milestone in rehabilitating rangelands and protecting endangered plant seeds over the medium and long term in the Royal Botanical Garden's seed bank. She noted that the first phase involved selecting 10 sites across the Northern, Central, and Southern Badia near water harvesting structures, where nearly 120,000 seedlings representing 15 native shrub and plant species suitable for desert habitats were planted.

Her Royal Highness emphasized that the Royal Botanical Garden is working to institutionalize the management and sustainability of native vegetation using modern scientific methods. She added that preparations are underway for the second phase, which targets planting approximately half a million plants in new Badia locations to enhance vegetation cover, rebuild soil seed reserves, and transfer knowledge to local communities.

Minister of Environment Ayman Suleiman reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to building strong partnerships with environmental institutions, commending the project as a model for sustainable desert ecosystem restoration and expressing readiness to support similar initiatives.

Under the project, more than 100 plant species have been preserved and processed, over 2,000 seed samples dried for long-term storage, nearly 200 plant species documented, and biological and genetic analyses conducted on selected specimens.

During the tour, which covered the Al-Arteen area in Safawi and the Al-Ratami area in Azraq, Her Royal Highness was accompanied by Director General of the Royal Botanical Garden Mohammad Shahbaz, Director of the Hashemite Fund for Development of the Jordan Badia Ayesh Qatarna, and Director of the Environmental Compensation Unit Mohammad Al-Jazi.

//Petra// AF