Alexandra Cousteau: 95% of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM is set aside as a wildlife reserve

According to a member of the NEOM board, 95% of the land and seas under the NEOM will be set aside as a wildlife reserve.
Alexandra Cousteau, who is known as an expert in environmental issues and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, made her remarks during a panel discussion at the sixth edition of Future Investment Initiative (FII6) in Riyadh on Wednesday.
“They’re putting 95 percent of NEOM as a nature reserve — both inland and ocean — and that’s an extraordinary piece of leadership and example for the rest of the world,” she said.
Cousteau added: “I was fortunate enough to watch during the past five years being on the board of NEOM this principle of putting nature first and putting the ocean first.”
She pointed out, “We often look at the environment as something we need to exploit for profit and we say you know the cost to the environment is just an outcome for building our economy.
“I think that we can’t accept that destroying the environment is a requirement for having a successful economy; it’s quite the opposite.”
She stressed that the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a healthy environment and by rebuilding the environment “we are creating more opportunities for economic growth”.
In the growing region of NEOM, there is a variety of natural landscapes, including mountains, desert, and the clear blue ocean. It features distinctive topography and geography.