Ethiopia Setting Pace in Ensuring Green Environment: AUC Rural Dev’t Head

Addis Ababa, November 11, 2025 (ENA) – Ethiopia is setting the pace in terms of ensuring that Africa begins greening the environment and contributing toward addressing climate change, AUC Rural Development Division Head Janet Edeme said.

Recall that the Ethiopia's Green Legacy Initiative, which was launched in 2019, recently won the FAO Award for Sustainable Forest Management and Use by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The award recognizes Ethiopia's efforts in reforestation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land management.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, AUC Rural Development Division Head Edeme said preserving the environment is pivotal for Africa as the continent’s land has also undergone a lot of degradation.

Looking at the issues around the land reform, she stressed the need to bring in the issues in terms of how to address some of the environmental degradation. 

According to her, the African Union has been able to come up with a 10-year strategic action plan on how the continent wants to begin to address the issues of land degradation within the context of climate change.

Member states play a critical role in addressing land degradation and climate change impacts by implementing continental frameworks, developing national policies, and executing specific on-the-ground initiatives.

Stating that land is central in terms of being able to contribute in addressing issues around climate change on the continent, the Head pointed out that Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative is commendable.

“Ethiopia is setting the pace in terms of ensuring that we begin to green our environment, and also the issues in terms of how we are contributing to ensure that we can address climate change.”

Noting that Ethiopia has actually taken the leadership in terms of the greening policies, she further said there are several countries that are also coming up with their own policies in terms of how they want to address the issues of climate change.

For Edeme, the initiatives are instrumental in terms of greening, reforestation, planting trees as well the issues in terms of conserving soil.

“I think what Ethiopia is doing is quite commendable,” she said.

Ethiopia has planted over 48 billion trees since the launch of the Green Legacy Initiative seven years ago.

Since its launch in 2019, the initiative has led to a remarkable increase of forest coverage from 17.2 percent to over 23.6 percent.

The initiative involves large-scale annual tree planting campaigns that have significantly boosted forest coverage and contributed to environmental rehabilitation and climate resilience.