Ethiopians have set a new world record for trees planted in one day.
More than 353,633,660 trees were planted on Monday, surpassing the initial goal of planning 200 million trees.
Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed’s Green Legacy initiative was launched in May in a bid to plant a total of 4 billion trees this rainy season.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture more than 2.6 billion trees have so far been planted in almost all parts of the horn African nation.
Prime Minister Ahmed, together with government officials and community members, planted trees in the city of Arba Minch, SNNP regional state the same day.
He arrived in the city for the Green Legacy initiative on Monday morning according to office of the Prime Minister.
President Sahelwork Zewdie planted in Amahar state of the country.
Ambassadors and members of international organzations also participated in the national tree planting exercise.
Forest Monitor and EcoWatch shows that the world record has been held by the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, after 1.5million volunteers planted more than 66 million tree saplings in just 12 hours along the Narmada River for years before.
The country has executed its commitment after planting 353,633,660 trees which significantly outshine the previous record of 66 million trees set by India in 2017.
The “Green legacy”, which is a national 4 billion trees planting project was officially initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on May 26, 2019.
Ethiopia ranks third in planting trees since 2006 of the Billion Tree Campaign, which was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in response to the challenges of global warming, as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges from water supply to biodiversity loss.
MG/as/APA