Ethiopia to plant 5 billion trees to fight climate change

Ethiopia plans to plant 5 billion trees in 2024 as it seeks to foster climate change mitigation as the country faces extreme environmental events including drought and torrential rains.

Such a green project would require at least 117 million dollars and mobilize millions of citizens throughout the country.

Planting more trees is part of Ethiopia’s “Green Legacy” program, which was launched to reverse deforestation.

The initiative has so far the support of the UN Development Program as well as Norway and Sweden as it will also help many Ethiopians land a job.

Over 90% of the country’s estimated 110 million-strong population obtain energy from biomass, but unsustainable harvest from natural forests resulted in the widening of the gap between supply and demand of forest.

Between 2007 and 2015, according to the Ethiopian Commission of Environment Forest and Climate Change, the nation imported 3.06 million-meter-cube of various industrial wood products, approximately worth $182.5 million.