Last week, Ethiopia brought world’s record to the highest level by planting more than 353 million seedlings in 12 hours. Before last week, the record had been held by India which planted more than 66 million trees within a day in 2016. Ethiopia’s success is not only an astonishing move but also inspiring to other nations to act on climate change. As a record-breaker has to do beyond what has been achieved, Ethiopia, mobilizing 23 million peoples, improved the record by more than six-fold.
Rightly, this move contributes a great deal in a global campaign to curb global warming. The achievement is also the best indication that Ethiopia has continued to be a leading nation in the war on climate change. Actually, planting trees and protecting environment have been considered as stewardship by Ethiopians since ancient times.
Realizing the grave consequences of the global warming, Ethiopia, in the last a couple of decades, has been cultivating immensely the green economy like hydropower, wind and geothermal energies. As a developing nation that has very little contribution to the global warming, Ethiopia has indisputably played an enormous role to curb the effects of the problem.
Likewise, the developed nations ought to consider the war as their indispensible duty for the catastrophic effects of climate change like floods, fires, extreme storms and drought are growing in intensity and frequency to a challenge to their technological progress. The atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are alarmingly increasing to be the defining threat even to their well-established economies.
When the developing nations like Ethiopia have carried out their duties effectively, the largest emitters of CO2 must step up very soon so that the world can be saved from climate calamities. It’s impossible to adequately reduce the emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change without economic support from the developed world. Hence, there is no any convincing reason for the global leaders to be divided on the issue of climate change.
Unlike much recognition given by most of global nation for necessity of immediate action, some skeptics still continue questioning the scientific consensus on climate change. For instance, the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change that was held at the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC on July 25, 2019 seemed to dispute scientific observations on climate change by criticizing “climate alarmists” and promoting fossil fuels.
The justification of the participants of this conference to encourage inaction on climate change can never be accepted by healthy minds. What they are doing is not the attempt to improve their understanding of the climate change but denying the serious concern of much of the world. Perhaps they could not discern the deceptive thought that might rob them the proper time to act on the climate change.
Though the deniers pretend that they cannot believe the assertion of thoughtful scientists, they cannot overlook the damaging consequences of the climate change to their peoples. Hence, we encourage them to act on the solution as soon as possible. While the developing nations like Ethiopia are contributing a great deal to reduce the staggering global warming, it would not be rational for few developed nations to withdraw themselves from the global campaign.
All in all, Ethiopia is proudly playing its share in alleviating the global warming; its achievements and commitment in pursuing green economy can inspire the other nations.
The Ethiopian Herald, August 6/2019
