Millions of Ethiopians plant over 350 million trees in 12 hours

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed is spearheading a reforestation campaign called “Green Legacy”. He challenged Ethiopians to join the campaign with an original goal of planting 200 million trees. This past Monday, millions of Ethiopians joined the challenge and planted around 150 million trees in the first six hours. By the twelfth hour, the Prime Minister tweeted they exceeded their goal, planting a total of 353,633,660 tree seedlings. The country is only just beginning though. Between May and October the goal is to plant 4 billion trees. Now this is an effective way to combat climate change and rebuild our forests. 

CNN reports that 80% of Ethiopia’s population depends on agriculture for work. The African country has faced deforestation, soil erosion and more. A recent study at Swiss University found that restoring the world’s forests can remove 2/3 of all the planet warming carbon. Way to go Ethiopia for stepping up and taking action to make a positive change. 💓