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Ethiopia Aims to Go Greener, Quadrupling World Record by Planting 200 Million Trees Today

abiy-plants-treesIn an unparalleled move to go greener, Ethiopia is intent on marking a new world record by planting 200 million seedlings on a single day.

The tree-planting campaign is part of the Ethiopian government’s ambitious initiative, to plant four billion trees before the end of the rainy season. Kicking starting the effort on May 26, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed dubbed the project “Green Legacy”.

So far, India holds the world record for most trees planted in a single day, which stands at 49.3 million. This record was set on July 11, 2016. Ethiopia, before dusk today, is on the move to set a new record, staggeringly quadrupling this amount.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture on Friday announced 200 million tree seedlings have been successfully distributed throughout the country to make today’s tree planting move a success. Most of the trees to be planted are indigenous species, the ministry noted.

The Green Legacy project is a national project that aims to see four billion trees planted, with an expectation for every Ethiopian to plant a minimum of 40 trees. So far, in the last few months, over 2.6 billion trees have been planted. This amounts to 60 percent of the Green Legacy target.

The initiative, which the World Food Programme (WFP) says is "critical for Ethiopia which had lost billions of trees and forest resources over the years," has also received the support of various international organizations, including various United Nations agencies, as well as development partners due to its positive role in the fight against climate change.


Sources: Xinhua, National Geographic, ENA

Image Source: Twitter Page of the Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia