Mayor urges Addis Ababa residents to join tomorrow’s National Tree Planting drive

Addis Ababa, August 22, 2024 (FBC) – Mayor Adanech Abiebie of Addis Ababa has urged the city’s residents to actively participate in National Tree Planting Day scheduled for tomorrow.

“I invite all residents to unite for tomorrow’s tree planting event and create a historic moment,” the Mayor stated. “Let us actively plant trees together, leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.”

Since the inception of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Green Legacy Initiative in 2019, Ethiopia has planted an impressive 32.5 billion tree saplings across the nation. The initiative has notably enhanced afforestation drive, increasing the country’s forest cover from 17.2% in 2019 to 23.6% in 2023.

The Green Legacy Initiative has emerged as a successful model for addressing environmental issues and fostering resilience towards a greener economy, with a steady rise in the number of seedlings planted each year over the past five years.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called on Ethiopians to write a new chapter in history by planting 600 million tree seedlings in just one day on August 23, 2024. “”Let us leave a lasting legacy across Ethiopia,” he emphasized, urging collective action for remarkable results.

As part of the second phase of the Green Legacy Initiative launched last year, Ethiopia has set an ambitious target of planting 50 billion saplings over the next four years. The Prime Minister highlighted the significance of this tree-planting campaign as a demonstration of patriotism and a meaningful gift to future generations.