Ethiopia’s national tree campaign underway with aim to plant 700 million seedlings in one day

ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia AP Ethiopia launched a national campaign on Thursday to plant million trees in one day as part of an ambitious conservation initiative that aims to plant billion trees by The reforestation campaign has been a personal project of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since Tesfahun Gobezay state minister for the Ethiopian Governing body Communication Services advised reporters before a m local time that particular million seedlings had already been planted by million Ethiopians It was not achievable to verify the establishment s figures Ethiopia has a population of more than million people We kicked off this year s one-day green Legacy planting early this morning Abiy announced on social media platform X Our goal for the th year is million seedlings Let s achieve it together Bureaucrats say particular billion tree seedlings have been planted since The target for is billion trees Abiy took power in as a reformist He won the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with neighboring Eritrea but a war that erupted shortly afterward in the Ethiopian region of Tigray damaged his reputation as a peacemaker He now he faces another rebellious uprising in the Amhara region Plenty of general offices are closed Thursday to make time for tree planting Thousands of citizens servants have been dispatched across the east African nation to help plant seedlings made available through the official bureaucracy At the break of dawn a multitude of were seen planting trees in the capital Addis Ababa At a site in Jifara Ber dozens of people were involved including children Almaz Tadu a -year-old grandmother brought her grandchildren to a tree planting event she announced reunites her with neighbors I have come with my mother and this is my third time planting trees declared -year-old apprentice Nathenael Behailu I dream of seeing a green setting for my country Another Addis Ababa resident Ayanaw Asrat noted he has heeded the call for the last three years I came early and I have so far planted seedlings I am very happy to contribute to creating greener areas across Addis he commented Abiy himself was proceeding in Jimma the largest city in the southwestern region of Oromia Cabinet ministers were sent to other regions to patronage local officers But there are critics Kitessa Hundera a forest ecologist at Jimma University narrated The Associated Press that a noble reforestation initiative was being carried out by non-experts who could not define conservation objectives regarding site selection and other technical issues He cited concern over mixing exotic species with indigenous ones and the apparent failure to review the survival rate of seedlings planted over the years He also doubted it was realizable to plant million seedlings in one day Planting million seedlings in one day demands the participation of about million people each planting seedlings which is practically impossible he announced More AP Africa news https apnews com hub africa Source