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31st Jul 2019

Ethiopia planted 350 million trees in 24 hours, the most ever planted in one day

Jade Hayden

It looks like they may have broken a world record.

Over 350 million trees were planted in Ethiopia over the course of 24 hours in a bid to crack down on deforestation.

The move, encouraged by the country’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed, is a reaction to Ethiopia’s problematic history of mass deforestation and unsustainable farming.

The country surpassed their initial goal of 200 million trees planted in one day earlier this week.

They are planning on planting up to four billion between now and October as part of their climate change action campaign.

The movement, ‘Green Legacy’, hopes to recover the Ethiopian landscape and encourage people, businesses, and farmers to promote a more ethical and sustainable approach to living.

“Congratulations Ethiopia for not only meeting our collective green legacy goal but also exceeding it,” tweeted prime minster Ahmed following the achievement on Monday.

He also shared a detailed plan of Green Legacy, showing exactly how many trees were planted around each region.

#GreenLegacy, for a greener and cleaner Ethiopia, is a national go green campaign,” reads the plan.

“… Endeavouring to raise the public’s awareness about Ethiopia’s frightening environmental degradation and educate society on the importance of adapting green behaviour.”

The plan lists its key goals as advancing social capital, improving health, preserving wildlife, supporting agriculture, and protecting clean water.

You can find out more about Ethiopia’s Green Legacy plan here. 

Topics:

Ethiopia,news