A titanic undertaking of enormous impact, designed to send a powerful message and earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, one of India's most populous, over fifty million trees were planted in a single day. The first tree was planted at five o'clock in the morning last Monday by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, after which hundreds of thousands of people set about planting millions of saplings from eighty different tree species, distributed by the authorities.

Everyone plants

More than 800,000 people took part in the initiative, including students, legislators, government officials, housewives and volunteers from non-profit organisations, planting the saplings at designated spots along country roads and motorways, railway lines and forest land.

Trees against smog

The initiative was born out of a desire to combat the pollution that blights India, one of the most polluted countries in the world, and to launch an intensive reforestation process and environmental conservation drive, as part of the commitments made at the climate change summit held last December in Paris. "The world has understood that serious efforts are needed to reduce carbon emissions in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Uttar Pradesh has taken a great step forward in this regard," said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
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A record-breaking feat

The remarkable tree-planting campaign that took place in northern India earned the state of Uttar Pradesh an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The Indian state beat the previous record held by Pakistan, where 847,275 trees were planted in 2013.

Covering India in trees

The Indian government has allocated over six billion dollars to plant trees across the country, in order to honour its commitment to expanding India's forest cover to 95 million hectares by 2030. The long-term survival of the trees planted in such mass campaigns remains the primary concern, forestry department officials have said. Normally only 60 per cent of the plants survive, which is why the sites where the trees were planted will be monitored through aerial photographs taken at regular intervals to check on the saplings' health.