Ethiopia Says It Planted Over 350 Million Trees in a Day, a Record

[octoberlib]

LONDON — Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has been getting his hands dirty this summer, and this week he got much of the nation to join him.

Students, farmers, urban professionals, foreign dignitaries, environmentalists and government officials planted millions of seedlings on Monday, in what the government said was the largest one-day tree-planting effort in history.It was part of Mr. Ahmed’s campaign to plant four billion trees in Ethiopia before the fall to combat deforestation and global warming.


Many schools and government offices were closed for the day, as students and civil servants were urged to take part in the program, which was supported by several international aid groups.


The aim was to put at least 200 million seedlings in the ground a day, and by day’s end, government officials said that more than 350 million had been planted.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/africa/ethiopia-tree-planting-deforestation.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

[Throck]

1. Hopefully they'll invest time and effort to water.

[dalton99a]

12. +1

61 million Ethiopians lack access to safe water and 65 million lack access to improved sanitation. Of those who lack access to improved sanitation, a staggering 27 million practice open defecation.

In rural Ethiopia, a Water.org survey found that many women and children walk more than three hours to collect water, often from shallow wells or unprotected ponds they share with animals. Recurring droughts result in famine, food shortages, and water-related diseases, as people are forced to rely heavily on contaminated or stagnant water sources.

https://water.org/our-impact/ethiopia/

[Throck]

14. All that poop is moisture and fertilizer.

Grey water and septic water are just fine on trees. Tree root systems are natural bio filters. What they've done is start the wheels turning a localized eco-system which will hopefully propagate and survive.

Trees, brush, etc are part of the long term carbon cycle that secure carbon (CO2) from the atmosphere.

In addition to the watering I hope there is scientific monitoring of the efforts as well.

[panader0]

2. I was a thinner in Oregon. Our contract was with the Forest Service

but the real benefactor was the lumber companies.
I had more than a few twinges of conscience.
So I got a job as a planter. We had large, mailbag sized bags
filled with seedlings, about 14-16 inches. Doug fir.
We lined up about 10 or 12 feet apart, with our bags slung over
our shoulders, and a hoedad or small hoe/pick in our hands.
10 steps, swing the hoedad down and pry the ground open.
Insert the seedling, tamp the soil with your foot and take
10 more steps.
I went back some years later to some of the places and the trees had
taken off.

[Control-Z]

5. That must have been lovely to see.

"I went back some years later to some of the places and the trees had taken off."

[Demovictory9]

7. nice change in jobs

[Disaffected]

3. Where did they get

350 million seedlings at one time? For that matter, where would anyone get such a large number?

[Throck]

10. You should see my gutters.

[zackymilly]

4. Can't get into the story. What type of trees? Fruit? Nut? Timber? n/t

[octoberlib]

8. Doesn't specify. Whatever grows there , I assume. They're planting trees to

combat climate change .

[Throck]

11. No such thing as a bad tree in an arid climate.

Anything that grows holds soil and controls erosion. The bonus is the shade which helps drop the local temperature a few degrees.

[applegrove]

6. Go Ethiopia.

[malaise]

9. I would love to see the rest of the world

join such a project

[Throck]

13. Be a project of 1.

Whenever I hike or walk I carry a bag with me. When I find acorns, hickory nuts, beechnuts, apples, pears, cherries or even maple seeds I fill the bag. Then I take it to a brushy area that is underutilized and scatter them amongst the brush. I try to guess areas that won't be developed like hedge rows and property lines, steep stream banks. Couple of times I've cleaned the maple seeds out of my gutters and moved sprouts to open vacant fields. If you throw them into brushy areas, the brush acts as a natural deer block and the sprouts actually have a chance. I done this as a hobby for 20+ years. I'd like to think some of the small trees along the trails I walk are from my efforts. If one in 10,000 seeds I've thrown grows into a mature tree it will have been worth it.

As a goofy side note, as I look for seeds in the more formal parks, I'm up about $40 in coin change, returnable bottle & cans plus a really cool Swiss Army knife and a watch. Some people also have to pick up after their dogs.

Wife says some of my best friends are nuts,

[Johnny2X2X]

15. What a great idea.

Millions of Americans go into the forest every week. If a trend is started to bring a few seedlings with you and plant them, the impact could be huge. Provide people with a little knowledge on what to plant and where and the impact would be bigger. There is so much abandoned farmland in this country that is now just fields. Filling in thousands of those fields with trees would have a tangible impact on the environment.

Trees are a huge weapon to fight global warming. They also clean the water, control erosion, promote wild life, and can even help the weather.

I for one am going to follow your lead, it would be easy enough to nurture some seedlings from the trees in our yards and then pplant them in the wild when I get the chance.

[Throck]

19. As my wife would say...................

...............go nuts!

[malaise]

16. How wonderful

[IcyPeas]

17. the trees are indiginous and eco-friendly to the area...

well some good coffee comes from Ethiopia, hope they planted lots of coffee trees.

Great lesson for school kids to learn about climate change and the environment. I would've loved this when I was a kid.

snips from Ecowatch and TreeHugger:

The campaign wants every Ethiopian to plant 40 seedlings during the rainy season, which runs from May to October. In the end, the country will have 4 billion indigenous trees to help mitigate the effects of the global climate crisis.

The Green Legacy project "is an ambitious undertaking to become a green society by planting various types of eco-friendly seedling to combat environmental degradation and, a national platform that will be used for various societal green activities...

More than 400 staff from the United Nations planted trees, along with staff from the African Union, and various foreign embassies in Ethiopia, according to the BBC. Ethiopian Airlines was one of several corporate entities to join the effort.

Canadians headed to Gulele Botanic Garden in Addis Ababa to plant their trees, as did their diplomatic counterparts from Sweden. Israel’s ambassador proudly planted an avocado tree, while the umbrella-toting Belgians planted trees in the rain around their embassy compound.

[kentuck]

18. Who's gonna water them?

Is that an arid climate?

[ismnotwasm]

20. K&R