Precise ecological restoration to foster a sustainable Saudi Arabia in a warming world
Sustainable Environment & Essential Needs
Fernando Tomás Maestre Gil
Qi Liu earned her Ph.D. in Ecology in 2022 from Jinan University, focusing on ecological restoration in arid environments. She was previously a postdoctoral research fellow at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research under the KAUST Global Fellowship aims to develop data-driven tools for precision greening tailored to Saudi Arabia's unique ecosystems. Her project supports national initiatives such as the Saudi Green Initiative by building detailed vegetation and environmental databases, identifying key ecological drivers, and using artificial intelligence to model potential natural vegetation and generate planting probability maps. This research will guide optimal tree-planting strategies under current and future climate scenarios and contribute to effective restoration efforts in arid and hyper-arid regions.