United Nations in Ethiopia takes part in tree planting to curb effects of deforestation, climate change

Heads of UN Agencies and staff of the United Nations in Ethiopia planted trees in Addis Ababa in support of the Green Legacy Initiative, a go-green campaign to counter the effects of deforestation and climate change.

The UN in Ethiopia planted 5,000 indigenous tree species to support the initiative in collaboration with the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC), Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (EBI) and Addis Ababa City Administration.

Speaking at the tree planning event, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ethiopia, Dr. Catherine Sozi, underscored the importance of trees and forests in mitigating the impact of climate change.

“The Green Legacy Initiative has hugely contributed to Ethiopia’s environmental restoration and conservation efforts.”

Launched in 2019 by Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the Green Legacy initiative is part of the Government’s plan to plant 20 billion seedlings by 2024.

On June 5th, 2020 on the margins of World Environment Day, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the second Green Legacy Initiative in Ethiopia, which targets to plant 5 billion tree seedlings this year.

Green Legacy Initiative is aligned with the priorities of the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) national development plan and strategy.

The Ethiopian Green Legacy is also in line with the following global initiatives (i) the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration for which many UN agencies are engaged; (ii) UNEP vision for 2020 as Super Year for nature; (iii) the Nature-based Solutions and building back better after COVID-19; (iv) global environmental agendas including Paris Agreement on climate change, the Targets on Land restoration, the post-2020 biodiversity framework, planet pillar of UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), among others.