Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Campaign

Billions of trees expected to be planted in Ethiopia before the end of the rainy season

Ethiopia has been planting approximately 6 billion trees per year since 2019. It forms part of the ‘’Green Legacy’’ project to promote eco-tourism and combat the effects of climate change in Africa.

The initiative highlights the government’s focus on the environment and greening of Africa. In particular the effort is designed to combat desertification and soil erosion which has consistently plagued this nation of 120 million.

Ethiopians from all walks of life have planted more than 6.7 billion trees in 2020 and 2021, scaling up efforts during the previous two years that saw planting of close to 10 million seedlings across the nation.

In 2022, the government of Ethiopia has distributed 1.2 billion trees to neighboring countries including Eritrea and Djibouti as part of the efforts to regionalize the Green Legacy Initiative. This regional effort led by Ethiopia has been well received by the African Union as well as neighboring states in the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopia is achieving its plan to plant 20 billion trees by 2022 for over 16 billion have already been accomplished since 2019. As a signature project of the prime minister, the initiative has buy-in from the very top and promises to be sustainable.

In addition, the green legacy has been bolstered by recent drive to promote urban farming as well as backyard farming in cities and towns across the country, a program the government hopes will help curb persistent food insecurity and food inflation.

The country also hopes the green legacy will help protect the giant dam it has been building on the blue Nile by slowing sedimentation and siltation on the dam. According to Addis Ababa, Mayor, Adanech Abebe, “the benefits to the climate and air quality in increasingly crowded cities is of utmost importance according. This promises to be a game changer for the environment in our country”.