Ethiopia's Green Legacy Plants Over 40 Billion Trees Enhancing Climate Resilience

Ethiopia's Green Legacy Initiative (GLI) has garnered international acclaim as a transformative environmental campaign combating climate change and deforestation through large-scale tree planting. Since its launch in 2019, the GLI has mobilized millions of citizens to plant billions of seedlings, raising forest cover significantly and aiming for 30 percent coverage by 2030. This year, Ethiopia aims to plant 7.5 billion trees during the rainy season, including an ambitious goal of 700 million trees in a single day, surpassing previous records. The initiative has also fostered regional cooperation, with neighboring countries like Djibouti and Kenya participating through joint tree planting efforts and seedling donations, exemplifying collective environmental stewardship in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopian officials emphasize the program's role in enhancing climate resilience, biodiversity restoration, and sustainable development, while international organizations and African leaders praise its impact and urge replication. Complementing these efforts, Ethiopia has launched the National Agri-Finance Implementation Roadmap (NAFIR) to improve agricultural financing, aiming to support sustainable agricultural growth, rural transformation, and climate adaptation.