Authority to Plant 40 Million Tree Seedlings in Nile Basin

Addis Ababa, May 29/2020(ENA) Ethiopian Basins Development Authority announced that it will plant 40 million tree seedlings in the Nile Basin this Ethiopian rainy season. 

Basins Development Authority Director-General, Adanech Yared told ENA that the scheme  is part of the government’s initiative to plant five billion trees between July and October, 2020.

According to her, the authority is working to increase forest coverage in the Nile Basin in order to protect the quantity and quality of water that flows into the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in a sustainable manner.

“ Our plan is to plant 40 million trees in the Nile Basin during the stated period, and 32 million seedlings are readied for planting. We are preparing the remaining 8 million seedlings,” the director-general added.

Last year the authority planted about 20 million trees in the Nile Basin, out of which about 80 percent revived, it was learned.

“ In addition to visiting to the sites, we had employed people that sustainably protected and nurtured the seedlings,”she said, adding that the country can build a green economy by expanding on such schemes.

Despite the spread of Coronavirus and the struggle to contain it, the government plans to continue its green legacy by planting about five billion trees throughout the country during this rainy season.

The country had planted over four billion tree seedlings between May and October last year thus inspiring Ethiopians at large.

Enrolling volunteers from across the nation, Ethiopia embarked on one of the most ambitious tree-planting programs in history, by planting 350 million tree seedlings in one day alone. Over 84 percents of those have revived.