Al Baydha Project

The Al Baydha Project,[1] in rural, western Saudi Arabia, is a land restoration, poverty-alleviation, and heritage preservation program, based on principles of permacultural and hydrological design.

Located roughly 50 km (31 mi) south of Mecca, in Makkah Province, Al Baydha is an area characterized by the rocky, arid, foothills of the Hijaz Mountains.

[2][3] Founded in 2009 by Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, Harvard ethicist Mona Hamdy,[4] and Stanford permaculturist Neal Spackman, Al Baydha has begun to see practical and ecological results.

In the long-term future, Al Baydha hopes to transform the region into a savanna ecosystem, in part, by means of assisted natural regeneration, conservation grazing, and the effects of evapotranspiration and atmospheric moisture recycling.

"[11] A similar project, overseen by permaculturist Geoff Lawton (who advised on the design of Al Baydha), has already achieved success in Wadi Rum, in southern Jordan.