Ethiopia has broken its record for planting trees to combat climate change by planting more than 350 million trees in just 12 hours, authorities say, in what they believe is a world record. The drive is being led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is aiming to combat the effects of deforestation and climate change in the country. According to the United Nations (UN), Ethiopia's forest cover declined from 35% of total area at the start of the 20th century to just over 4% in the 2000s.
The country's goal is to plant four billion native trees. Officials from the United Nations, the African Union and foreign embassies in Ethiopia participated in the effort. The current world record for planting trees in a single day is held by India, which used 800,000 volunteers to plant more than 50 million trees in 2016.
