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Citizens of Ethiopia /ˌi θiˈoʊ pi ə /, a country in Africa’s northeastern region, planted more than 350 million trees in less than a day.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed spearheaded the initiative in July. Some of the country’s schools and public offices were suspended so more people could participate. According to the country’s National Forest Sector Development Program coordinator, over 23 million people participated in the tree-planting effort.
The initiative is part of the country’s Green Legacy campaign. This reforestation campaign aims to have four billion trees planted from May to October, the country’s rainy season. Apart from leading the campaign, Ethiopia pledged to work with other African countries to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030 through the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative.
With these initiatives, Ethiopia hopes to recover from the drastic deforestation in the country. Reports showed that over a century ago, around 30% of Ethiopia’s land was forested. Now, that figure has gone down to below 4%.
Ethiopian officials believe that the initiative has set a world record, surpassing India’s 2017 record of 66 million trees. Ethiopia’s initial goal was to plant 200 million trees in one day. The end result exceeded expectations, with the said number of seedlings planted within 12 hours. While it is still uncertain whether or not the Guinness World Records monitored the initiative, a special software was developed to verify the number of trees planted, according to the Prime Minister’s office.
A lot of environmental groups commended the campaign. However, one lecturer from the country’s Addis Ababa University is concerned about the viability of the planted trees. He said that people should also focus on properly maintaining the seedlings so they will flourish.