The Al Baydha Project, in rural, western Saudi Arabia, is a

land restoration Land restoration, which may include renaturalisation or rewilding, is the process of ecological restoration of a site to a natural landscape and habitat, safe for humans, wildlife, and plant communities. Ecological destruction, to which land re ...

, poverty-alleviation, and heritage preservation program, based on principles of permacultural and

hydrological Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

design. Located roughly south of

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

, in

Makkah Province The Mecca Province ( ar, مِنْطَقَة مَكَّة '), also known as the Mecca Region, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the third-largest province by area at and the most populous with a population of 8,557,766 as of 2017 ...

, Al Baydha is an area characterized by the rocky, arid,

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topographi ...

of the

Hijaz Mountains The Hijaz Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ٱلْحِجَاز, Jibāl al-Ḥijāz ()) or "Hejaz Range" is a mountain range located in the Hejazi region of western Saudi Arabia. The range runs north and south along the eastern coast of the Red Sea, ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

tribes are the major residents of this region. Founded in 2009 by Her Royal Highness Princess Haifa Al Faisal, Harvard ethicist Mona Hamdy, and Stanford permaculturist

Neal Spackman Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...

, Al Baydha has begun to see practical and

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their biophysical environment, physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosy ...

results.

Project goals

Most notably, Al Baydha's emphasis is on creating an economy for the inhabitants of Al Baydha that is socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically sustainable. The project's main objective is to create financial and social independence for the inhabitants by training, educating and employing them in the infrastructure and capacity building activities undertaken by the Al Baydha Project. Al Baydha's environmental goal is the reversal of

desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused b ...

. This is accomplished largely via

rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir w ...

, through utilization of rock terraces and

gabion A gabion (from Italian ''gabbione'' meaning "big cage"; from Italian ''gabbia'' and Latin ''cavea'' meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road buildin ...

s (or small

check dam A steel check dam A check dam is a small, sometimes temporary, dam constructed across a swale, drainage ditch, or waterway to counteract erosion by reducing water flow velocity. Check dams themselves are not a type of new technology; rather, ...

s), as well as catchment of

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

into

swale Swale or Swales may refer to: Topography * Swale (landform), a low tract of land ** Bioswale, landform designed to remove silt and pollution ** Swales, found in the formation of Hummocky cross-stratification Geography * River Swale, in North Yo ...

lines. These support

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees ( forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in afforestation programs to create forests ...

of drought-resistant trees, such as

date palm ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Ea ...

s, in the

natural landscape A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists before it is acted upon by human culture. The natural landscape and the cultural landscape are separate parts of the landscape. However, in the 21st century, landscapes that are totally ...

. Another focus of the program is on slowing down

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...

s in the highlands, and, over time, converting them into seasonal streams or

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet ( ephemeral) riverbed that contains water on ...

s. In the long-term future, Al Baydha hopes to transform the region into a savanna ecosystem, in part, by means of

assisted natural regeneration Assisted natural regeneration (ANR) (also termed managed regrowth) is the human protection and preservation of natural tree seedlings in forested areas. Seedlings are, in particular, protected from undergrowth and extremely flammable plants such a ...

conservation grazing Conservation grazing or targeted grazing is the use of semi- feral or domesticated grazing livestock to maintain and increase the biodiversity of natural or semi-natural grasslands, heathlands, wood pasture, wetlands and many other habitats.

, and the effects of

evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpir ...

and atmospheric

moisture recycling In hydrology, moisture recycling or precipitation recycling refer to the process by which a portion of the precipitated water that evapotranspired from a given area contributes to the precipitation over the same area. Moisture recycling is thus a c ...

Site development after the end of artificial irrigation

In 2016, the Al Baydha Project received a commendation from Prince Khaled Al Faisal for innovative work undertaken by the inhabitants of Al Baydha as a model of national excellence in humanitarianism, sustainability, and innovation. Th
same year funding stopped and Neal Spackman needed to shut off water to the irrigation pipes
The trees started to die. He told those involved in the project that the true test would be to see if the trees could live without being watered. Later that winter the trees survived and thrived, proving testament to the power of ancient terrace farming. In a 2020 documentary about the Al Baydha Project, Spackman has called the project "a testament to the potential of regenerative agricultures and a template for the reforestation of millions of desert landscapes in the Arabian peninsula and beyond."

Similar projects

A similar project, overseen by permaculturist

Geoff Lawton Geoff Lawton (born 10 December 1954) is a British-born Australian permaculture consultant, designer, teacher and speaker. Since 1995 he has specialised in permaculture education, design, implementation, system establishment, administration and c ...

(who advised on the design of Al Baydha), has already achieved success in

Wadi Rum Wadi Rum ( ar, وادي رم ''Wādī Ramm'', also ''Wādī al-Ramm''), known also as the Valley of the Moon ( ar, وادي القمر ''Wādī al-Qamar''), is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan, about to the east ...

, in southern

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

References

External links

Neal Spackman's personal website and blogInterview with Neal Spackman (2014)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527135321/http://www.permaculturevoices.com/100-degrees-and-3-inches-of-rain-greening-saudi-arabia-with-neal-spackman-pvp078/ , date=2018-05-27
Neal Spackman's Project updates on PermacultureNews.org
2009 establishments in Saudi Arabia Agricultural organisations based in Saudi Arabia Appropriate technology organizations Bedouins in Saudi Arabia Conservation projects Desert greening Ecological restoration Establishments in Hejaz Land reclamation Environmental organisations based in Saudi Arabia Populated places in Mecca Province Permaculture organizations Projects established in 2009 Rural community development Science and technology in Saudi Arabia Sustainable agriculture Wadis of Saudi Arabia Water conservation Water in Saudi Arabia Water supply and sanitation in Saudi Arabia