Qatar aims to plant 10 million trees as part of Qatar National Vision 2030. The country marked 1 million tree plantations on December 18, 2022. The massive campaign to plant trees seeks to reduce carbon footprint as studies suggest that a big tree observes carbon emission of four vehicles.
The measures by the Public Parks Department at the Ministry of Municipality to overcome the challenges of water for irrigation are expected to increase the number of public parks and green areas manifold in the coming years. The public parks are expected to increase two to three times from the existing 148 parks.
The biggest challenge in the way of plantation is water scarcity, which is being overcome with the support of Ashghal by using treated water. The ministry in cooperation with Ashghal is laying pipelines of treated water along roads and as soon as the work is completed, the roadside plantation will start.
The country has seen remarkable increase in public parks and green spaces in the past 12 years. The number of public parks in Qatar reached 148 in 2022 from 56 in 2010, recording 164 percent growth. The green spaces in the country rose to over 43 million square metres in 2022, from about 2.5 million square metres in 2010. The per capita share of the green area rose to 16 square metres from less than one square metre in 2010, with an increase of 16 folds.
A number of public parks were opened in 2022 and many were renovated and expanded to receive fans of Qatar 2022. On November 1, 2022 Umm Al Seneem Park, with the largest air-conditioned jogging tracks in the world was opened in Umm Al Seneem, setting a Guinness World Record.
The jogging tracks ensuring temperatures of about 26 degree Celsius aim at encouraging people to visit parks.
The public parks emerged as one of the major tourist destinations during the World Cup as they attracted 863,683 visitors during the month-long event. The parks operating in Al Rayan Municipality received the most, 615,732 visitors, followed by Doha Municipality parks which welcomed 128,273 visitors.
As many as 61,376 people visited the parks in Al Khor and Al Zakhira Municipality. Parks of Al Daayen Municipality and Al Wakrah Municipality received 21,248 and 15,792 visitors respectively. The Municipalities of Al Sheehaniya, Al Shamal and Umm Salal received 8,049; 7,538 and 5,675 visitors respectively.
