Ethiopia has broken its record of the most trees planted in 12 hours, more than 566 million saplings have been planted throughout the country during the 12 hours spree, per a government report.
In a televised message, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called the current feat historic and congratulated all who participated in the campaign.
“Today we have accomplished a task that gives a great lesson to the whole world,” the PM said.
The campaign began a day after the PM challenged each individual to better their previous footprint in the bid to plant 500 million seedlings.
People from all walks of life including members of the diplomatic community left their green legacy footprint.
The campaign ended at 06:00 pm in the afternoon with 66 million more saplings than the target planted, per the government data, which put the success rate at 113%.
The total figure eclipsed the previous tree-planting record – set at the start of the Green Legacy Initiative (GLI) four years ago – by more than 200 million saplings.
“Ethiopians have done it,” State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign said at the end of the campaign. “We did not only break our own record but exceeded our planned target.”
The Green Legacy Initiative which aims at curbing the effects of climate change and deforestation in Ethiopia mobilized more than 25 million people to plant 25 billion tree seedlings. The average survival rate for planted seedlings is 84%, per government data.
Authorities are pushing to repeat it in the next four years.
