The initiative is part of a wide-ranging reforestation effort aimed at mitigating climate change and combating desertification.
Trees will save us, or at least they might. A recent study published in Science has once again highlighted the extraordinary potential of forests to mitigate the effects of climate change. A number of nations have taken the message on board and embarked on a process of reforestation and restoration of degraded ecosystems.
Ethiopia is one of them. Through Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, the country announced last June that it would plant four billion native trees by October as part of the #GreenLegacy initiative. The mammoth reforestation effort, which aims to restore Ethiopia to the green landscape it once was, got off to the best possible start: on 28 July, more than 350 million trees were planted in a single day.
This was reported by the Ethiopian government itself, which added that public offices were closed to allow civil servants to take part. Restoring the ancient forest cover — which shrank dramatically during the twentieth century due to uncontrolled deforestation, falling from 40 to 4.6 per cent — will help the African nation combat the desertification and drought that threaten the food security and health of its population.
Thanks to the approximately 353 million trees planted by thousands of volunteers across around a thousand different sites, Ethiopia has set a new record for the greatest number of trees planted in a single day. The previous record was held by India, which planted 66 million trees in 2016 in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
The main purpose of the national environmental campaign #GreenLegacy is to combat environmental degradation and create a more liveable environment for people. In addition to tree-planting days — with approximately 2.6 billion trees planted to date — the initiative plans to raise public awareness of Ethiopia's environmental crisis, teaching citizens the importance of adopting sustainable behaviours.
The initiative is undoubtedly commendable and can bring concrete, long-term benefits to the entire nation. There are, however, those who believe that the large-scale reforestation effort is nothing more than a smokescreen used by Abiy Ahmed to distract public opinion from the serious problems afflicting Ethiopia, such as the ethnic conflicts that continue to divide and bloodshed the nation. Ethiopia is home to around 80 ethnic groups with different languages and cultures, and the situation is anything but stable: conflicts are frequent, almost always triggered by disputes over district boundaries. Last May, violent clashes broke out between the Amhara and the Gumuz, claiming around two hundred lives and forcing the government in Addis Ababa to deploy the army.
