It is now six years since Ethiopia has been engaged with what is known as the Green Legacy Initiative. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this operation, conceived, initiated, and launched by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), has enjoyed tremendous success and acclaim even from reputed world environmental activists and climate change academics, and researchers.
Ethiopia is on the right track to contributing its share to the reduction of carbon emissions and overheating of the climate. This lessens the negative impacts of climate change. It was stated that if every country did the same as Ethiopia, the world would be a better place to live in going ahead. It would be a big contribution to the timely steps towards the efforts aimed at alleviating the negative impacts of climate change.
It is said that before the Green Legacy initiative was launched, the forest coverage of Ethiopia was reduced to 17%, way down from about forty percent of the coverage some decades ago, according to reliable estimates. Now, after six years, the Ministry of Agriculture has declared that this percentage has grown to 23.6 % and in a couple of years it would reach 30% which would be a remarkable milestone with immense impact on the country’s food sovereignty efforts, besides its implications regarding climate change as a whole.
In a recent interview, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) gave to EBC, he said that the Green Legacy Initiative has always been one of the most important and defining programs and achievements of his administration because of the lasting results that it can generate for the country with tangible implications on its future.
He also said that this greening of the country should not be considered as a one-off activity or undertaking, but a way of life and a tradition that will continue because it will also define the path for a better life for the coming generations as well. If we fail to address this critical issue of climate change now, it means that we have decided to put at risk not only our current lives but also the future of our children and grandchildren!
We have the obligation and responsibility to come out of similar danger and act today to save the future of our children as well, the premier has warned, inviting everyone in the country to continue to help in attaining these crucial and achievable objectives.
The Green Legacy program has, up to now, managed to plant more than forty billion tree seedlings, sixty percent of which have been trees that are food-producing trees such as coffee, fruits such as avocado, mango, and others. Ethiopia’s march towards food self sufficiency has made tremendous progress because if we continue to plant food plants and grow all sorts of cereals using also the irrigation schemes we have been undertaking over the last couple of years, this food security of the nation will be achieved and guaranteed in a couple of years, according to the premier.
What is more, the Green Legacy program has also been contributing to the economy with the export of mango, avocado, papayas, and other types of food besides the production of millions of quintals of wheat, coffee, tea, and other food items. The export of coffee alone has reached an income of more than 2billion dollars this year, making a tremendous leap compared to the past years. Without hard and prolonged work, this result would not have been acquired, the premier underlined. Such results do not come down from the blue, the premier noted, stressing that the momentum needs to continue unabated to come out of the cycle of poverty and food insufficiency that push us towards seeking the help of others, even to feed our population, due to what climate change has inflicted on us.
The premier said there is no greater shame than a country such as Ethiopia to beg for food, while we can change this condition by working hard, because Ethiopia has all it needs to produce enough food not only for us but also for other countries, which may be less naturally endowed than we are.
Ethiopia is a huge country, the premier noted, that has so much fertile land to plough, a wonderful climate, and large unused water resources, a big young population that can do wonders if it isguided and oriented on how to do things. The Green Legacy has demonstrated that millions can take part in the campaign and change the face of the country. It has been estimated that twenty million people have taken part in the greening of the country by planting seedlings every rainy season of the past six years. This year, as well, 7.5 billion tree seedlings are ready to be planted across the country.
The official launching ceremony for the year 2017 Ethiopian calendar took place last Friday at the Addis Ababa International Conference Centre in front of invited guests, including the vice president of Nigeria, who is on an official visit to Ethiopia. On the occasion, Prime Minister Abiy welcomed all the guests present and highlighted the developments of the past years regarding the Green Legacy, underlining the brilliant results which have earned the country various awards and recognitions from multiple international agencies and governments.
Soon, the premier said, two important international conferences will be held in Addis. The African Food Summit and the African Climate Change Summit, which he said shows the appreciation of international agencies for Ethiopia’s efforts to contribute its share to alleviating the negative consequences of climate change and how it is managing to be self-sufficient in food production.
He thanked the vice president of Nigeria for gracing the ceremony with his presence and all other invited guests, including ambassadors and chiefs of mission, and representatives of the multiple international agencies stationed in Addis. It was a moment when important messages were handed over to the nation, during which everyone was invited to take active part in this season’s forestation program.
The premier remarked that Ethiopians need to have faith and trust in our means and potential to fast-track towards prosperity. He added that no country in the world has achieved growth and prosperity without working hard using all the resources they have at hand. Ethiopia has the potential to defeat poverty and attain a high standard of living if its children work hard at the current pace. Within a few years, there will be no need for support from other countries, and no charities will be needed. The premier said that nothing is more embarrassing for a country such as Ethiopia than to stretch its hands for food support from abroad when it can grow it at home and in abundance.
During the past six years, Ethiopia has shown the world and inspired many African countries that with massive and relentless efforts, we can cover our country with greenery and forests and achieve tangible results.
Among the advantages of the Green Legacy is the slowing down and halting of soil erosion that occurs because the hills and fields have been deprived of their natural carpet. Floods during the rainy seasons have eroded the precious part of the soil, and if the current pace continues, there will not even be any soil left where we can plant trees and food crops. That is why covering the hills and plateaus with greenery is vital for the prevention of soil erosion and the regeneration of the original state of the land.
This, in turn, would contribute to the increase of water deposit under the surface, which could then be used for irrigation at the end of the rainy season. That is how the plantations of wheat and rice, as well as coffee and tea, have flourished recently. It is a direct result of the planting of over forty billion tree seedlings. There is no doubt that the results of the Green Legacy are being registered tangibly, and this year, as in the past six years, more tree seedlings will be planted throughout the country, keeping the momentum towards the objective of planting and reaching the fifty billion tree seedlings.
By next rainy season, the target will be achieved without any doubts, the premier added in full trust and optimism, counting on the voluntary commitment of nationals, and he thanked and congratulated them for that. So he urged all Ethiopians without distinguishing differences in age, gender, religion or social status to take part fully in this noble endeavour and defeat climate change as it attacks every body without discriminating between differences in age, gender etc because the damages are uniform and even more felt in less developed countries of the South which highly rely on rain fed agriculture.
The aberrations in the climatic cycle provoke huge losses in agricultural production, and when there is excessive rain and hence flooding, the damages are even more accentuated. The same can be said of drought and aridity. Climate change cannot be fought in conference halls with presentations of research papers and discussions, but by actually doing the hard work of getting to the muddy fields, facing the harsh rainy season and other adversities, and planting tree seedlings continuously until things change substantially, Premier Abiy stated.
By FITSUM GETACHEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 1 JULY 2025
