The beginning of the new tree planting season as part of the Green Legacy Initiative that started in June 2019 has started a few days ago in an official launching ceremony. On the occasion a documentary film was premiered in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The documentary shows the progress made during the past five years referring to the more than thirty billion tree seedlings already planted and the plan to plant another seven and a half billion seedlings this season so that in the next three years the huge objective of planting fifty billion seedlings will be reached.
A report has shown that the coverage of green areas in Ethiopia has increased to 23.6 % in 2023 up from around 17% in 2019. And that is a huge positive leap in four years of tremendous and sustained planting of trees in the country. The department of forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture has revealed that the 7.5 billion tree seedlings are ready and all arrangements are prepared with the chosen sites. The survey on the new coverage of green areas in Ethiopia was carried out based on international standard requirements and the result obtained has drawn not only the attention of all environment activists and relevant authorities and stakeholders but also their admiration for the achievement of Ethiopia.
Reports indicate that a few decades ago Ethiopia used to have about forty percent of its land covered with greenery but because of various human activities the percentage was once reduced to four. Ethiopia’s efforts in combating climate change with all the resources it can avail have been hailed as a huge success and to be emulated by other nations. Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative has been exported to neighboring countries as well not only by inspiring them but also by contributing millions of tree saplings.
Ethiopians have now become a very environment conscious people with this tradition of taking care of the environment being realized. Today, environment protection and conservation has been included in the educational curriculum of schools so that children grow up with the sensitivity and consciousness of climate change and keeping their environment not only clean but also green.
Anyone who tunes into one of the international news media will observe that climate change is a burning issue. In many cases, it is an everyday talking point because the crude consequences of climate change are evident in front of our eyes. We have come across tremendous climatic disasters such as overwhelming flooding. Just a few weeks ago, there have been inundations of a city such as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where all the roads of the metropolis were completely inundated.
Furthermore, the level of temperature on earth, last year, was the highest in living memory. Scientists have been warning that if we do not reverse the current tendencies we would be facing incalculable disasters. Scientists do not have any doubts that this phenomenon of climate change is entirely the work of human beings.
Pollution is also a huge factor in this climate change because gas emissions have characterized all developing countries and coupled with less and less green areas the rise in the atmospheric temperature has become alarming. The rises of factories coupled with millions of vehicles which inject dark emissions to the air contribute to the crisis. That is why now there is a huge revolution of changing fuel driven vehicles with electric ones.
Today millions of vehicles using electric power are being introduced substituting the petrol using vehicles. Factories are advised to reduce their pollution to the lowest levels or face closures and huge fees as a penalty. There are scientific mechanisms to do that and there is now a legal framework within which they are supposed to operate.
We cannot fail to reckon that the problem is really huge and difficult to control unless there is resolve and commitment on the part of every nation particularly the more advanced ones which have contributed to the crisis with all the damages to particularly the poorer countries of the third world with very little impact on how climate change has come about. And yet it is they who have suffered and continue to suffer the major challenges because their farming seasons have been disrupted which leads to food insecurity. When the cycle of drought intensifies farmers in these third world countries are forced to rely on charities or donations that come from the richer nations.
That is why the efforts of developing countries such as Ethiopia are being appreciated and acclaimed by environmentalists and academics on climatic phenomena. Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative is appreciated by many African countries’ diplomats who live in Ethiopia and have followed the past few years’ campaigns being carried out.
The level of participation of the citizens has been very high in a show of response to the call of the government. Preparations of nurseries for the tree seedlings are now being undertaken in thousands of localities in the country and the forestry department of the ministry of agriculture is supervising and monitoring the activities of these outfits. Thousands of youths have found job opportunities in this activity.
Ethiopia has also been one of the vanguards in the operation of the climate resilient economy by using clean energy such as hydropower from its dams, geothermal energy, solar and wind power.
Environmentalists have been pushing on all sorts of efforts that governments, huge international corporations should do to stop the usage of fossil fuel thus diminishing gas emissions to the air. They have been campaigning to create awareness among the populations of the world that the earth is doomed unless severe and immediate measures are adopted and implemented by governments.
The UN has repeatedly emphasized this point and so has the Holy Pontiff of the Vatican putting more pressure on politicians and policy makers that the environment must be a priority and there is no way of denying that climate change is a human work and not a natural one as some would like us to believe so that their vast economic advantages are not affected. This shows that the greed of certain people and organizations is unlimited and irresponsible.
In this context the efforts of countries such as Ethiopia have been well appreciated. Instead of increasing the usage of fossil fuel and contributing more to climate change they are doing all they can to reverse the case by using clean energy sources. Deforestation and soil erosion are being stopped in Ethiopia by planting billions of tree seedlings. These efforts are bearing fruits as the new survey has shown and environmentalists have been noting it and registering it. And more is yet to come because Ethiopia intends to continue on this path until the ultimate goal is achieved.
Reversing the past tendencies of impacting the environment negatively has been carried out thanks to this Green Legacy Program. There has been a huge emphasis on planting not only trees that are meant to cover the surface with greenery but also fruit trees that help lessen the impact of shortage of food. Certain fruits such as avocado are also being prepared for export and fetch some foreign currency to the country beside the thousands of job opportunities this activity begets.
For instance, the Corridor Development Project in Addis Ababa is contributing to the greening of the city with thousands of plants and mattresses of green grass being planted along the main avenues of the city. This idea is being extended to each household because it takes the efforts of every resident to cover the city with greenery and contribute to the combat against climate aberrations.
These planted trees are not meant only for beauty but also for reducing the effects of the gas emissions in the city by absorbing the carbon dioxide on a daily basis. Similar initiatives are being undertaken in many areas in the country. Millions of people are being engaged in this endeavor of greening the country and restricting the indiscriminate and irresponsible felling of trees.
Today there is the realization that conserving the environment clean and green will have positive and tangible consequences in the daily livelihoods of people. That is why there is the awakening and consciousness about the importance of protecting and taking care of the environment. Scientists have been insisting for years now that we are reaching the dangerous point of no return if we continue with the current tendencies despite repeated conferences called COP 27, COP 28 etc. on climate change. They are carried out periodically and repeated promises of the most industrialized countries to help reverse current tendencies by adopting strict rules that can halt the damages.
Scientists have said the pace of policy implementation is not quite fast enough and good enough and much more is needed before the worse scenario is halted. Those parties who still continue to say that climate change is a hoax invented by certain political parties and insist in the expansion of oil exploration and using it as they please in the name of expanding their economies do not want to wake up that the negative consequences are right in front of them. With the various forms of manifestations of the effects such as the excessive rain, the drought and the various fires that are consuming the forests of the world and the overheating of the seas and melting of the icebergs around the poles contributing to the rising waters in the rivers and seas and then inhabited areas.
The objectives set by environmentalists that the temperature of the atmosphere must be reduced to a certain limit is not being attained with the current pace and a lot still remains to be done and not only talking about it. Programs need to be well devised and implemented on the ground and changes observed. Only rhetoric does not suffice to change current tendencies that lead us to a dooms day scenario.
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 27 JUNE 2024
