In recent decades, Ethiopia has been losing large parts of their forests due to climate change and mass deforestation. Now, the nation’s citizens are taking action themselves as a part of the government’s Green Legacy Initiative and working to plant 50 billion trees by 2030.
35-year-old Halima Kedir is the ultimate representation of the efforts Ethiopia’s citizens are taking in order to save the planet, and their country’s forests. In a recent conversation with the Guardian, she explained how when she began the process of planting trees throughout her region, she was met with disbelief and discouraging words before changing the minds of those around her.
“My neighbors discouraged me. They thought I was striving for nothing, but with time, many are realizing that trees can be part of the solution to our problems as a way to fight climate change and food insecurity.”
Kedir lives in the Berbere district of Ethiopia’s Oromia region. To this day, she doesn’t know how many trees she’s planted, but knows it’s in the thousands; after a while she lost count.
As the years progressed and her trees began to take root and grow, the areas became much greener, and the people began to pay attention and join along. This is an inspiring movement happening among the people of Ethiopia, as the nation has a history of large-scale deforestation, and is classified as one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable places.
“Now, exerting has changed. Those who tried to dissuade me are envious of my effort and commitment.”
Kedir’s 13-year-old son, Anwar, also told the publication about how inspired he was by his mother, and like her wants to dedicate his life to protecting the environment and combatting climate change.
“I want to make a lifelong commitment in the fight against climate change.”
Within the past 25 years, Ethiopia has lost 560,000 hectares (2,160 square miles) of its tree coverage, mainly due to the expansion of agriculture, commercial logging, and using charcoal as fuel. Biodiversity, soil quality, and water resources have all experienced negative impacts from the tree loss.
To combat the increased risk of climate-related disasters, in 2019 the Ethiopian government introduced the Green Legacy Initiative (GLI) with a main objective of planting as many trees as possible. Within the years since the initiative was launched, the rate of deforestation has decreased.
In fact, it’s been reported that between 2013 and 2023, the annual deforestation rate lowered from 92,000 hectares to 27,703 hectares, with forest coverage increasing from 15.5% to 23.6% in that same time frame.
The government has claimed that thanks to the GLI, 48 billion trees have been planted within seven years. They also emphasized that they broke a record by planting 353 million seedlings in one day. Overall the goal is to plan 50 billion trees by 2030.
This increase in tree planting is in big part because of the community itself. Kedir’s neighbor, Fate Abdulahi, for example, has joined in on her efforts after seeing all that she was able to accomplish on her own.
“She proved us wrong and she has become a role model and someone willing to find local solutions to our issues.”
The individuals within the community believe that by being Oromo has contributed to Kedir’s success in caring for her trees. Oromo is a society known for the traditional practice of “guddifachaa,” which entails adopting a child and integrating them into Oromo society.
“Just like we adopt a child in our tradition, I see them like my own children,” Kedir said.
Even more inspiring, Kedir’s community is constantly enduring severe water shortages. Kedir herself walks for about an hour to get water to nurture her seedlings. WaterAid Ethiopia has been attempting to help with the efforts to plant trees that will grow and thrive.
Alebachew Adem, director of WaterAid Ethiopia, said: “To date, approximately 55,000 indigenous tree seedlings have been distributed to households and community institutions across the area. 85% of the seedlings have grown successfully.”
“In dry land and climate-vulnerable areas such as Berbere, these efforts help communities build resilience against the increasing impacts of climate change.”
The current issue that the government is working through is figuring out the survival rates of the seedlings in the long term. The data is unfortunately difficult to find because it’s consistently ongoing. However, in 2022 the government-backed GLI technical committee found that the average survival rate of seedlings was about 83% in 2019 and 79% a year later.
Recent research from Asia showed that nearly half of all reforestation trees planted did not survive more than five years, according to the Guardian.
Yitebitu Moges, co-ordinator of the REDD+ deforestation scheme at the UN’s Environment Programme in Ethiopia, said “the greatest success has been in the highlands and a study of the rates of survival is under way. We are collecting data and are now committing ourselves to a systematic assessment of survival rates.”
“Our history has shifted from deforestation to forestation. People are becoming more and more aware that deforestation is damaging. The world needs to appreciate this is a huge undertaking by the government,” he said.
“Even if half of the trees that have been planted survive, we are already gaining moisture, keeping soil and sequestering carbon.”
Ethiopia is truly committed to doing what they can to help reforest their nation. In fact, two years ago, the Green Legacy and Landscape Restoration Special Fund allocated between 0.5% and 1% of its annual federal budget – between about $65 million and $145 million, to restore degraded landscapes.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
