The Shoura Crown Prince delivers the annual State Address before the Shora Council

Makkah: The King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority recently celebrated the graduation ceremony of the second batch of 20 trainees from the Scout Elite Program, which aims to provide employees with the highest qualifications.

Graduates undertake field and practical training to develop a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity, wild animals and plants in nature reserves and how to care for them while ensuring their sustainability.

The Scout Elite program is divided into two phases. The first was the creation of an educational program delivered in the Tabuk region that introduced trainees to the basics of scouting, focusing on the principles of ecology, biodiversity, human history and environmental statistics.

In the second phase, the trainees were flown to Hodspruit, South Africa for an intensive eight-week field training course in collaboration with the Wildlife College of South Africa.

Nayef Al-Wazan, a graduate, said the training included sanitation, security of field operations, monitoring patrols, plant and animal identification and management, and report writing and analysis.

Nasser Al-Ansi, another graduate, said: “We will implement what we have learned on the ground and use all the knowledge to serve our country and achieve the objectives of Vision 2030.

“We learned a lot in South Africa. We have learned how to treat barren lands with some modern techniques and aim to replicate such successful experiences.

Nasser Al-Balawi, a graduate of the program, said: “We were involved in a first aid training course, which included how to handle victims and keep them safe until they were transferred to hospital, along with a crisis management course. . It was an amazing and enriching experience and the exercises were applied on the field after we watched them in the videos.

“It helped us expand our horizons and introduce us to more effective and efficient field practices that will allow us to apply them to our work.”

The program raised awareness about the importance of conserving biodiversity and wildlife, ways to collaborate with local communities to achieve desired goals, and ultimately protect the environment and foster a sustainable natural balance.