ECORE
Empowerment of Communities for Re-vegetation

Overgrazing and climate change have decimated the numbers of desert flora and fauna in the gulf region. The lack of trees and shrubbery has in turn increased the local surface temperatures. It has also increased the presence of dust particles in the air. Today the region has been consistently breaking temperature records, increasing the need for energy intensive air-conditioning. The dust particles contribute significantly to the region’s dismal air quality and its accompanying health issues.

ECORE will help facilitate the re-vegetation of large swaths of the desert by connecting NGOs, volunteers, government entities, and private enterprise and setting the plan and removing obstacles for the stakeholders.

The first phase of the project will be the establishment of guidelines for re-vegetation of native desert flora with the help of research institutes and experts. These guidelines will be openly available to anyone undertaking a re-vegetation initiative in similar climates.

The second phase will be the establishment of a seed bank and large center for the germination and hardening of indigenous and desert plants. This will follow the tried and tested method of a 5-step project. We would start of by collecting a large amount of seeds and we would plant them in a green house. Next, we would move the seedlings to a shaded area for 2 months followed by taking them out under the sun for 2 more. After that, these plants will be moved to their final destination to spend the rest of its life. We have found this method to be a much higher success rate than just using seeds. The size of this center would depend on factors such as the required number of plant production.

The third phase would be the planting of these trees in protected nature reserves. By using volunteers and NGOs, we believe we should be able to re-vegetate and irrigate huge swaths of land. These plants only need to be irrigated for a year, sometimes up to 3 years. After that, they would tap into the ground water and thrive naturally.