For every day, about 350 million trees are set to be planted each day in Ethiopia. This is according to the facts released by a government minister. The planting of these trees plays a huge role in the initiative of the government to leave behind what they called the "green legacy." The goal is to be able to replant 4 billion trees in the entire country during the summer. Every citizen is encouraged to plant at least 40 billion seedlings.
In order to make the encouragement stronger, public offices in the whole of Ethiopia were reportedly closed down in order for civil servants to be able to take part in the activity. The project does not only focus on replanting the trees to hopefully get rid the massive carbon emission content in the atmosphere. More importantly, it aims to tackle the impact of climate change on the lives of individual people.
In a drought-prone country like Ethiopia, it is important that the citizens are aware of the impacts of deforestation to their everyday lives. According to the report by the United Nations (UN), the forest coverage of the whole of Ethiopia was only at 4% in the 200s. A century before that, it ranged at at least 35% of the whole country. The drastic drop in forest coverage is truly alarming and this is what fueled the desire of the government to bring back their forests one tree at a time.
Dr. Getahun Mekuria, the Minister of Innovation and Technology of Ethiopia, shared the information about the estimated number of trees that are to be planted each day. He tweeted the details of such move and shared that if he considers all the citizens of Ethiopia participated in the project, they will be able to plant 353 million trees each day. There is a previous world record that holds the planting of 50 million trees in a day, held by India in 2016.
"Trees do not only help solve the problem on climate change by absorbing the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. More importantly, they play a huge role in combating deforestation and land degradation, which both leads to more harmful effects on the lives of humans and other living things on Earth," said Dr. Dan Ridley-Ellis, the head of the Centre for Wood Science and Technology of the Edinburgh Napier University. "Trees also provide shelter, fuel, medicine, food, and other useful materials for human consumption. They also serve as protection for the world's water supply and that makes all the difference."
"This is truly an impressive feat. It is not just about a simple case of planting trees, but it is part of a huge and rather complicated battle against climate change," he added. All that people need to know is that they should keep watch of what trees to plant where. The increasing temperatures as well as the depleting fresh water supply should all be clear indicators of what trees to plant in particular areas. The ecological, cultural, and social considerations must also be made.
