Ethiopia plants 350 million trees in 12 hours
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Ethiopia has broken the world record for the largest number of trees planted in one day, while simultaneously making the world a little greener. Ethiopians planted more than 350 million trees in just 12 hours earlier this week. This smashed the previous record, held by India, by 50 million trees. Ethiopia's minister of innovation and technology announced his country's record-breaking feat on Twitter. He proudly revealed that people had planted 353,633,660 trees in a bid to help the environment. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who participated in the tree planting festivities, congratulated everyone involved in the record for their efforts and for doing their bit for the planet.
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Ethiopia's record-breaking achievement is part of a wider strategy of planting 4 billion trees between May and October. The country is well on its way to achieving this goal. So far, volunteers, businesses and government workers have planted more than 2.6 billion trees nationwide. Ethiopia is attempting to reverse the cutting down of many of its forests. The Farm Africa organization reports that less than 4 per cent of Ethiopia's land is forested. This is a sharp decline from the 30 per cent of land on which trees grew at the end of the 19th century. A recent study reported that planting billions of trees was the cheapest and most effective way to absorb carbon dioxide and thus help to tackle global warming.
Sources:
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ethiopia-plants-350-million-trees-12-hours-breaking-world-record-2019-07-30/
- https://www.treehugger.com/conservation/ethiopia-plants-350-million-trees-day-breaks-world-record.html
- https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/life/us-prosecutor-seeking-death-penalty-for-suspected-kenyan-serial-killer
