World Record: Ethiopia Plants 35 Cr Trees In 12 Hrs To Tackle Climate Change; India Should Too!
Ethiopia planted more than 353 million trees in 12 hours on July 29. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed aims to counter the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone area. The burst of tree planting was a part of the wider reforestation campaign called &lsquoGreen Legacy&rsquo.
In what officials say is a world record, Ethiopia planted more than 353 million trees in 12 hours on July 29. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed aims to counter the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone area.
Today #Ethiopia is set in our attempt to break the world record together for a #GreenLegacy. The 12hr countdown has begun.
¡ª Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) July 29, 2019
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The burst of tree planting was a part of the wider reforestation campaign called ¡®Green Legacy¡¯, which was also introduced in 1,000 sites across the country. Millions of Ethiopians across the country were invited to take part in the challenge and within the first six hours, Ahmed tweeted, that around 150 million trees were planted.
#GreenLegacy in Wolayta Soddo#???????? ????? ??#PMOEthiopia pic.twitter.com/qnl9sj547j
¡ª Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) July 29, 2019
The massive effort is part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Green Legacy Initiative, which aims to plant more than 4 billion trees between May and October, or 40 trees per person.
"We're halfway to our goal," he said and encouraged Ethiopians to "build on the momentum in the remaining hours." After the 12 hours were over, the Prime Minister took to Twitter and announced that Ethiopia not only met its ¡®collective #GreenLegacy goal,¡¯ but also exceeded it.
Congratulations #Ethiopia for not only meeting our collective #GreenLegacy goal but also exceeding it. #PMOEthiopia
¡ª Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) July 29, 2019
A total of 353,633,660 tree saplings were planted, the country¡¯s minister for innovation and technology, Getahun Mekuria tweeted. Staff from the United Nations, African Union and foreign embassies in Ethiopia also took part in the exercise.
353,633,660 Tree Seedlings Planted in 12 Hours. This is in #Ethiopians
¡ª Dr.-Ing. Getahun Mekuria (@DrGetahun) July 29, 2019
Regional Shares of Trees Planted today.#PMOEthiopia #GreenLegacyEthiopia pic.twitter.com/2BkTDtYedC
Country's minister of health also tweeted and wrote, '#GreenLegacy is a vision for the next generation. It is creating a blueprint for them and showing them the way. #GreenEthiopia #HealthyEthiopia'
#GreenLegacy is a vision for the next generation. It is creating a blueprint for them and showing them the way. #GreenEthiopia #HealthyEthiopia ?? pic.twitter.com/TFudQhiAKc
¡ª Amir Aman, MD (@amirabiy) July 29, 2019
The UN says Ethiopia's forest coverage declined from 35% of total land in the early 20th century to a little above 4% in the 2000s.
The challenge encouraged citizens in Ethiopia to plant 200 million trees in one day. In 2017, India also set a world record when around 1.5 million volunteers planted 66 million trees in 12 hours.
