Ethiopia Mobilises Millions of Citizens to Plant 50 Billion Trees
Addis Ababa, 18 September 2026
Ethiopia’s ambitious Green Legacy Initiative has already planted 48 billion trees, successfully reversing deforestation and increasing national forest cover from 15.5% to 23.6% ahead of hosting COP32.
A Grassroots Ecological Revolution
At the heart of this nationwide ecological transformation are ordinary citizens who have taken ownership of the reforestation campaign. In the Berbere district of Ethiopia’s Oromia region, 35-year-old resident Halima Kedir has independently planted thousands of saplings, including banana, olive, and grevillea trees [1]. Her efforts, initially met with scepticism, have now become a local blueprint for combating climate change and food insecurity [1]. This grassroots commitment is crucial for a country that lost 560,000 hectares of tree cover between 2000 and 2025 due to commercial logging, charcoal production, and agricultural expansion [1].
Reversing Deforestation and Preparing for COP32
The Green Legacy Initiative (GLI), launched in 2019, has significantly altered the country’s environmental trajectory [1]. Between 2013 and 2023, Ethiopia’s annual deforestation rate dropped from 92,000 hectares to 27,703 hectares—a reduction of -69.888%—while national forest cover expanded from 15.5% to 23.6% [1]. To reach its ultimate goal of 50 billion trees by 2030, the nation needs to plant a further 2 billion trees over the next four years, building on the 48 billion already claimed to have been planted [1]. This ecological progress underpins Ethiopia’s preparation to host the 32nd UN climate summit (COP32) in Addis Ababa in November 2027, with infrastructure developments currently underway to accommodate thousands of international delegates [1].
Regional Diplomacy and Refugee Impact
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has emphasised that the Green Legacy Initiative extends beyond domestic environmental recovery, describing it as a guarantee of water security for downstream basin countries and a testament to East African climate brotherhood [2]. For Ethiopian refugees living in neighboring dryland regions such as Kakuma and Kalobeyei in Turkana, Kenya, these efforts are highly significant [GPT]. Reversing ecological degradation in southern and western Ethiopia directly mitigates resource scarcity and agricultural instability, which are primary drivers of regional displacement and border insecurity [GPT]. Furthermore, regional climate cooperation helps ease resource-related tensions, benefiting both host and refugee communities who share fragile border ecosystems [GPT].
Sustaining the Green Legacy
As the planting phase continues, regional governments are shifting their focus towards the long-term survival of the newly planted forests. In the Harari region, regional president Ordin Bedri has mobilised local leadership to ensure that post-planting care and seedling preservation remain a continuous priority [3]. This focus on sustainability is crucial to ensuring that the massive ecological investments yield permanent environmental security, ultimately paving the way for a safer, more stable region that may one day allow displaced populations to return to a self-sustaining homeland [GPT][3].