Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed over the weekend confirmed that a record breaking 615.7 million tree seedlings have been planted in a single on 318.4 hectares of land across the country.
In his remarks published on his social media pages, Ahmed stated that a total of 29.1 million citizens have participated in a one-day tree planting campaign which initially aimed to plant 600 million tree-seedlings.
“All Ethiopians set out to plant 600 million saplings from sunrise to sunset today. Refusing to let the sun set without achieving our goal, we surpassed it, planting an astounding 615.7 million saplings by the end of the day,” Ahmed said.
He said as the tree planting initiative gets traction among Ethiopians from all walks of life, Ahmed said with the conclusion of Friday’s nationwide tree planting campaign, the country will have planted around 40 billion seedlings since the launch of the Green Legacy initiative in 2019.
“Children have planted their hope. Young people have demonstrated their resilience. The elderly have left a legacy. From one corner of the country to another, Ethiopians stepped out and made their mark. With our unwavering spirit and perseverance, we accomplished overnight what has never been done anywhere else in the world,’ he said.
Today, we stand for climate balance, line up against soil degradation, and commit to ensuring food security. We have worked relentlessly to restore the prosperity of our land. With the Creator’s help, we achieved what we set out to do by today’s sunset,” the premier noted.
According to the prime minister, of the seedlings planted in the past year, 50 percent have been focused on food security, soil conservation, and combating land degradation. He also called on strengthening the national tree-planting movement to support water conservation efforts.
Experts often attribute the increasing adverse effects of climate change in Ethiopia to the escalating rate of deforestation. Over the past few decades, Africa’s second most populous nation has witnessed a significant loss of its once-abundant forest coverage.
According to the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority (EEPA), while Ethiopia only accounts for about 0.04 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the country is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, mainly due to its high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and natural resources, as well as its relatively limited adaptive capacity.
MG/as/APA