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Ethiopia plans to plant 6.5 billion tree seedlings this year

Millions of Ethiopians are taking part in a massive tree-planting campaign, with the authorities saying they hope 6.5 billion seedlings will be planted in an effort to tackle the adverse effects of climate change.

The move is part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Green Legacy Initiative that has seen similar drives throughout the country’s rainy seasons since 2019.

Dr Adefires Worku is a coordinator of the Green Legacy Initiative in Ethiopia. He told Newsday: “The plan is…for 6.5 billion seedlings to be planted this year. We need to mobilise tens of millions of people to plant…We have been putting in place a system where we are going to monitor the post-planting management not only the planting.”

(Picture: Shows a man watering plants before the launch of the Green Legacy Initiative in a hall in the Prime Minister’s office temporarily transformed into a green garden in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 18, 2021. Credit: Amanuel Sileshi / AFP via Getty Images.)

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