News in brief: Ethiopia plans to plant between 6.5 billion and 7 billion tree seedlings on 902,000 hectares of land during the rainy season as part of the Green Legacy Initiative, aiming to combat soil erosion and the impact of climate change while creating jobs. T
Ethiopia Forestry Development (EFD) says that the country has 902,000 hectares of land ready for planting tree seedlings during the rainy season. The country’s main rainy season occurs between mid-June and mid-September, and it is likely the one that the institution is referring to with the announcement. Although, it has a shorter one which occurs between February and May.
According to the report, this is part of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative (GLI), which has planted 25 billion seedlings in the past four years. The prepared land will receive between 6.5 billion and 7 billion seedlings, Deputy Director General (DDG) Motuma Tolera of EFD told reporters.
Tolera adds that the country is taking tree plantation seriously because it will determine its survival in years to come as global climate situation deteriorates.
“The Green Legacy Initiative is not a matter of choice as most of our mountain areas are being severely degraded. Recent studies show that millions of hectares of land are also going to deteriorate unless they are quickly covered with trees. There is a lot of soil erosion.” he said.
While readying the land, Tolera said that the instituation studied seedlings and conducted researches to determine what kind saplings the soil and environment needed.
The country’s rain-fed agriculture, tourism, and forestry are part of its key economic sectors. However, these sectors are climate change sensitive and growing them leaves the country vulnerable. It is why it commenced the GLI policy and the EFD DDG has praised public participation in the initiative too.
One benefit arising from the GLI is the fact that it has created more than 767,000 jobs for mostly women and youth within its more than four years of existence. The initiative includes agroforestry, forest sector development, greening and renewal of urban areas, and integrated water and soil resources management.
Meanwhile, it has not shifted focus from its plan to become self-sufficient in some areas, like sugar production.
