Cairo: Saudi Arabia has given foreign owners of cattle seven months to take their animals out of the kingdom or face penalties.

The deadline, announced by the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, started yesterday, February 18.

The measure is part of the ministry’s efforts to preserve the vegetation in the kingdom, limit overgrazing and enhance utilisation of vital resources in Saudi Arabia, Okaz newspaper reported.

With the expiry of the deadline, the ministry will begin taking measures against the non-compliant cattle owners and shepherds including revocation of entry permits and implemention of an export mechanism to the grazing cattle.

The ministry has called on non-Saudi owners to make use of the grace period and take out their cattle by registering via an e-platform Naama, using the link: https://naama.sa/Services/Details?EncryptedKey=cjK7Q2Q4Qqw%3D.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has unveiled a series of pro-environment measures also aimed to address climate change.

The Ministry has set up five environment centres and a fund to protect vegetation and bio-diversity in the kingdom, which has also enacted laws to protect the environment from overgrazing and illegal logging.

In 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Saudi Green Initiative, an effort aimed at planting 10 million trees across the kingdom, increasing the protected zones to 30 per cent of the country’s overall area and reducing carbon emissions by 278 million tons annually by the year 2030.