Until a few centuries ago, almost half of Ethiopia was covered in forests; then, following a dramatic increase in population and the expansion of urban areas and cultivated land, the country underwent massive deforestation and the number of trees fell drastically. Ethiopia's forest cover dropped from 40 to 4.6 per cent over the course of the twentieth century, leaving the soil vulnerable to drought, desertification and flooding. To reverse this trend, Ethiopia has for years been pursuing a process of reforestation and restoration of degraded ecosystems, drawing on agroecology with excellent results, and today forests cover around 14.7 per cent of the country's surface area. To further increase its forest cover — thereby becoming more resilient to climate change and ensuring greater food security — Ethiopia has announced that it will plant four billion trees.

40 trees per inhabitant

This was announced by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who explained that the new trees will help to "transform our degraded environments into functional ecosystems". Around 40 trees will be planted for every inhabitant of the country, which with its more than one hundred million inhabitants is Africa's most populous nation after Nigeria.

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The price of unchecked growth

Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing nations in economic terms, and over the last decade average GDP growth has exceeded 10 per cent per year. This growth has, however, had a considerable impact on the environment and, consequently, on its inhabitants. The growing demand for building materials and firewood has fuelled deforestation, leaving the soil arid and increasingly infertile. In 2016, Ethiopia was struck by a severe drought that put the survival of more than 10 million people at risk, while in 2017 two million livestock animals died as a result of drought.

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Ethiopia To Plant 4bn Trees: As tree cover has diminished, land across Ethiopia has dried out & become less fertile. The prime minister said the trees would help to “transform our degraded environments for healthy lives & functional ecosystems”. bit.ly/2wt4Psu

♥ 25💬 3 29 mag 2019 · Apri su X →

Ethiopia will turn green again

The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the reforestation effort will cost approximately 548 million dollars. Planting the four billion saplings — which will include fast-growing bamboo in areas particularly threatened by erosion — will also require hundreds of thousands of volunteers. Part of the initiative will be funded through tickets (priced at around 170,000 dollars) for a gala dinner organised by Abiy Ahmed Ali attended by three hundred businesspeople in Addis Ababa.

Farewell to eucalyptus

As well as creating new forests and tree-lined roads, Ethiopia's rewilding project envisages replacing exotic tree species with native plants. Among the most widespread and invasive is the eucalyptus, introduced from Australia from 1890 onwards owing to its extremely rapid growth, which provided timber in a short space of time. However, eucalyptus consumes large quantities of water, reducing soil water availability and altering the water cycle in arid regions; it also increases the risk of wildfires and damages biodiversity.