Fahad Al-Mana has been a professor in the department of plant production at King Saud University’s (KSU) College of Food and Agricultural Sciences since 2001.

He gained a bachelor’s degree in general agriculture from KSU in 1975, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in horticulture sciences in 1979 and 1983, respectively, both from Kansas State University.

Prior to his current position, Al-Mana worked as an associate professor at KSU’s department of plant production from 1991 to 2001 and as a teaching assistant in the same department between 1975 and 1983.

He has also held a number of key administrative roles, including serving as a director of the Agricultural Research and Experiments Station in Dirab, supervisor of the educational farm in the university district and college of agriculture’s farm in Al-Ghatghat between 1986 and 1990, and secretary of the Saudi Society for Life Sciences at KSU from 1996 to 2000.

Al-Mana was head of the plant production department from 1991 to 1993 then again from 1999 to 2003. He was a supervisor of afforestation management at KSU from 2000 to 2007, worked part time as a consultant at the Ministry of Agriculture between 2003 and 2006, was a consultant to Riyadh municipality from 2007 to 2011, and a supervisor of the establishment and development of the botanical garden at KSU from 2009 to 2013.

On the Green Riyadh project, Al-Mana said that most of the tree species planted were from a well-developed local environment with low agricultural service and care. He said that the amount of green space in the city would increase from 5 percent to 9 percent by 2030 and that the program would also reduce carbon dioxide and pollution levels in Riyadh.