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Along the Red Sea coast, something remarkable is happening. Resorts appear to rise naturally from the landscape, architecture blending with the desert and sea as though it had always belonged there. Native plants trace a gentle path from dunes to shore, and each morning, the beach lies pristine. To a visitor, it all looks effortless, human creativity living in harmony with nature.
But beneath this beauty lies a web of hidden connections that makes such harmony possible. Take the seagrass meadow, for example. To most people, it’s simply beautiful, long green blades swaying underwater. But scientifically, it’s an ecological powerhouse. Its roots hold the seabed in place, preventing sand from drifting and smothering nearby coral reefs. The meadow shelters juvenile fish and small creatures that will later move to reefs and help keep them clean and healthy.
And silently, seagrass captures and stores carbon dioxide from the water, helping to buffer local acidification and slow climate change.
Each element, seagrass, coral, fish, microalgae, plankton, and mangrove, depends on the others. Remove one, and the balance begins to fail. This simple truth shapes how Red Sea Global approaches development: regeneration must work like an ecosystem, interconnected, balanced, and continuous.
Our promise of achieving a 30 percent net conservation benefit by 2040 is not just about numbers; it’s about understanding and working within these relationships.
Learning to see what was always there
This journey began with observation, the foundation of all science. Between 2018 and 2019, RSG conducted one of the most comprehensive marine mapping programs in the region. Scientists charted thousands of square kilometers, recording coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves, and wildlife corridors. The work continues inland today, with terrestrial surveys documenting more than 120 locations and identifying 11 areas of exceptional ecological importance.
These studies were never just for compliance. They were a way to learn how the system truly works: Which species thrive where and why. How nutrients, energy, and water flow between land and sea. What makes certain ecosystems more resilient than others.
Through a growing team of environmental specialists and research partnerships with universities such as King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, these invisible patterns are becoming visible. The Red Sea landscape now reveals not only its beauty, but its logic.
Building through collaboration
In nature, nothing survives alone. Coral polyps live in partnership with algae that provide energy through photosynthesis. Mangrove roots trap sediment and protect coastlines, while that same sediment nourishes the trees. Fish rely on reefs for food and shelter, and reefs rely on fish to stay clean and healthy.
RSG’s regenerative work mirrors this cooperation.
Public institutions like the National Center for Vegetation Cover bring scientific knowledge and decades of experience in native species management. Together with RSG, they are restoring mangroves millions already planted with very high success rates. These mangroves stabilize shorelines, filter nutrients before they reach reefs, and store large amounts of carbon, helping both biodiversity and climate goals.
Further inland, the Botanica nursery, covering 1.8 million sq. meters, acts as the beating heart of RSG’s terrestrial restoration. It functions like nature’s seed bank propagating over 3 million native plants so far, with a target of 20 million by 2030. Many of these plants are grown and cared for by local community members, who are becoming experts in sustainable propagation and desert landscaping. These plants strengthen ecosystems and reduce long-term maintenance needs in this challenging climate.
Universities such as KAUST and the University of Tabuk, together with global initiatives like CORDAP and WAVE, serve as RSG’s scientific partners, testing new ideas, studying local resilience, and connecting Saudi research to global best practice. This network continuously learns, adapts, and improves just as nature does.
The environmental services arm, REEF, turns science into action. Its teams monitor coral reefs, study seagrass and mangrove health, and ensure that coastal systems remain connected. Data collected in the field feeds back to scientists, who use it to refine future work — a living cycle of knowledge and practice.
The economics of regeneration
Every ecosystem runs on energy. In our world, that energy often comes from capital.
Financial partners like the Public Investment Fund and national banks have fueled RSG’s progress, proving that sustainable development can attract strong investment. Regeneration is not an added cost, it’s an intelligent, future-proof economic model.
This principle aligns with what scientists call the Blue Economy, where economic activity supports, rather than harms, natural systems. In nature, nothing goes to waste; every process has purpose. Similarly, in regenerative development, every action should create environmental, social, and economic value together.
No single institution could achieve this alone. Like a coral reef, our progress is built through cooperation, each partner strengthening the others.
Engaging communities
Healthy ecosystems depend on diversity, and so do conservation efforts.
Across our destinations, local communities and volunteers join hands with RSG through programs like “Together for a Greener Coast,” planting mangroves and desert shrubs adapted to local conditions. These aren’t ceremonial acts, they are science-based restoration events that connect people directly to the ecosystems around them.
Even guests are invited to take part. At RSG’s resorts, guided environmental tours offer visitors a rare behind-the-scenes look at restoration projects, from coral propagation to mangrove planting. Awareness turns to appreciation, and appreciation to advocacy.
The invisible 70%
When visitors admire our colorful reefs, they see life in motion, but not the effort behind it. They don’t see the scientists studying heat-tolerant coral strains, the nursery workers tending young plants, the divers monitoring water quality, or the engineers designing electric beach-cleaning robots that remove microplastics to protect turtle nests and fish habitats.
The visible beauty the coral, the seagrass, the clean beach, is supported by layers of unseen science, engineering, and dedication.
Participation, not management
Nature has had millions of years to refine its systems. Our role is not to control them, but to learn from them.
At RSG, we don’t see ourselves as managers of nature, but as participants within it. The visible 30 percent, the resorts, the beaches, the reefs, depends entirely on the invisible 70 percent: the research, partnerships, community work, and daily environmental care that sustain it.
Every day, beneath the calm surface, seagrass meadows keep filtering the water, mangrove roots hold the shoreline, and coral reefs shelter marine life. Quietly, patiently, perfectly, nature continues its work.
At Red Sea Global, regeneration isn’t just a promise. It’s a practice alive, evolving, and visible in every wave.
• Rashid Al-Hatila is group head of environment at Red Sea Global.