Africans asked to join in scaling out Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative

Addis Ababa, August 19, 2023 (FBC) – Ethiopia has shared the experience of its Green Legacy Initiative and progress made at the 19th African Environmental Ministers Conference (AMCEN) being held in Addis Ababa.

The Nineteenth Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) is underway in Addis Ababa.

The four day conference organized under the theme “Seizing opportunity and enhancing collaboration to address environmental challenges in Africa,” has attracted more than 40 environment ministers and over 440 participants from across the continent.

Ethiopia shared its Green Legacy initiative experience at the ministerial segment of the conference on Friday, ENA reported.

During the occasion, the chair of the Ethiopian Green Legacy Initiative technical committee, Adefris Worku, made a presentation on the initiative under the title “Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative: Steps towards Building a Circular Economy in Africa.”

Adefris raised factors that have driven the initiative and mentioned that the nation planned to plant 22 billion seedlings from 2019 to 2022 and has managed to plant more than 25 billion seedlings.

Following the completion of the first round of the initiative, the nation has launched the second round of the initiative to plant another 25 billion seedlings by the year 2026, he said.

He also highlighted the importance of the Green Legacy Initiative in achieving the various targets, including the SDG, Agenda 2063, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Bonn Challenge, the AFR100, the NY Declaration on Forests, and other multilateral environmental agreements.

The achievement of Green Legacy initiative has various implications for Ethiopia that range from natural land restoration to food security and from ecosystem protection to climate change adaptation and mitigation in efforts to build a green economy.

Ethiopia has finally called upon African ministers to join in scaling out Ethiopia’s nature-based solution to fight climate change, which was unanimously well received.

The main objective of the Nineteenth Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) is to strengthen collaboration among the various institutions and enhance implementation of regional and global environmental frameworks in order to address the environmental challenges facing the continent.