This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
On July 29, 2019, Ethiopia made history by planting a staggering 350 million trees in a single day, shattering the previous world record held by India of 50 million trees in a day.
The initiative, known as the 'Green Legacy,' is part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali's plan to plant 4 billion trees by October 2019 to help restore the country's landscape.
According to Dr. Getahun Mekuria, the Minister of Innovation and Technology, the number of trees planted throughout the day reached 353 million by early evening.
Dr. Mekuria tweeted, '353,633,660 Tree Seedlings Planted in 12 Hours. This is in #Ethiopians #PMOEthiopia #GreenLegacyEthiopia.'
Public offices were reportedly shut down to allow civil servants to participate in the exercise, which aimed to encourage everyone in the country of 105 million people to plant at least 40 trees by October.
Less than 4 per cent of the country's land is now forested, a sharp decline from around 30 per cent at the end of the 19th century, according to Farm Africa, an organisation involved in Ethiopian forest management.
