About 350 million trees have been planted in a single day in Ethiopia, according to a government minister. From a report: The planting is part of a national “green legacy” initiative to grow 4 billion trees in the country this summer by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings. Public offices have reportedly been shut down in order for civil servants to take part. The project aims to tackle the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone country. According to the UN, Ethiopia’s forest coverage was just 4% in the 2000s, down from 35% a century earlier. Ethiopia’s minister of innovation and technology, Dr Getahun Mekuria, tweeted estimates of the number of trees planted throughout the day. By early evening on Monday, he put the number at 353 million. The previous world record for the most trees planted in one day stood at 50 million, held by India since 2016.
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https://news.slashdot.org/story/19/07/29/1643200/ethiopia-plants-350-million-trees-in-a-day-to-help-tackle-climate-crisis?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed