As part of a campaign to fight with climate change and deforestation, Ethiopians planted over 350 million trees in a day. Ethiopia’s national reforestation program has plans to plant 4 billion trees around 1,000 different sites across the country between May and October. Until now over 2.6 billion trees have been planted in almost all parts of the country.
Reforestation campaign named “Green Legacy,” spearheaded by the country’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, aims to restore the country’s landscape. Millions of Ethiopians across the country joined hands for this tree planting spree, and within the first six hours, Ahmed tweeted that around 150 million trees had been planted.
Ethiopians set up a world record
By planting 350 million trees in a day, Ethiopians set a world record. Although figures could not be verified, but they far exceed the previous record by India since 2016, for the most trees planted in one day and which stood at 50 million trees.
In addition to ordinary Ethiopians, Government officials , private businesses as well as staff and representatives from the United Nations, the African Union, and the Diplomatic Corps took part in this campaign.
For the success of the campaign, many schools and government offices were closed for the day and students and civil servants were urged to take part in the program.
Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director of UN Environment’s Africa Office, said, “Afforestation is the most effective climate change solution to date and with the new record set by Ethiopia, other African nations should move with speed and challenge the status quo,”
She added, “Africa has what it takes to spearhead this global push and as the most affected and vulnerable continent, climate change mitigation must be the topmost priority in the coming days. We at UN Environment are taking the lead in helping to build capacity for nations and people to apply themselves to afforestation and climate change mitigation strategies,”
