Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is leading the project, which aims to counter the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone country.
The planting is part of a national “green legacy” initiative to grow four billion trees in the country this this year by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings.
Some public offices have been shut down to allow civil servants to take part.
PM Abiy calls upon everyone in #Ethiopia to go out and #PlantYourPrint. #PMOEthiopia pic.twitter.com/leQdUBv849
— Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) July 29, 2019
The UN says Ethiopia’s forest coverage declined from 35% of total land in the early 20th Century to a little above 4% in the 2000s.
The 353 million trees being planted in a single day represents a world record, The Guardian reported. The previous record occurred in 2016, when volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in one day.
Staff from the United Nations, African Union and foreign embassies in Ethiopia took part in the tree-planting effort.
