The African nation of Ethiopia has planted a record 350 million in 12 hours on 29th July, a world record according to its officials.
The tree-planting campaign called ‘Green Legacy’ was spearheaded by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed. Many public offices were shut to enable bureaucrats to take part in this initiative, which was held in over 1,000 locations across the country. Staff from the United Nations and the African Union also took part in this fantastic project. Also, civilians were encouraged to take part in this project, with the government running promotional videos on state media to spread awareness.
In the past few years, Ethiopia has borne the brunt of climate change in the form of droughts and frequent floods. Soil erosion and land degradation are adding to existing problems. According to the United Nations, its forest cover has massively declined from 35 per cent in the early 20th century to just about 4 per cent in the 2000s.
The Minister for Innovation and Technology tweeted that 353,633,660 tree seedlings in total were planted.
BREAKING NEWS!!
ETHIOPIA PLANTED
353,633,660 TREE SEEDLINGS IN 12Hours#GreenLegacyEthiopia#PMOEthiopia pic.twitter.com/TewfqNzXMN— Dr.-Ing. Getahun Mekuria (@DrGetahun) July 29, 2019
However, Ethiopia doesn’t intend to stop with this achievement. It aims to plant 4 billion trees during May and October this year.
Remarkably, Ethiopia is one of the 20 African nations that are part of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative that aims to restore 100 million hectares of land in the African continent.
The previous record for planting the most number of saplings in a single day was held by India. In 2016, more than 50 million trees were planted in the south Asian nation.
