Ethiopia planted more than 353 million tree seedlings in a single day in 2019, the government announced, claiming a world record that was never submitted to Guinness for verification.
The mass planting was part of the Green Legacy Initiative, launched under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to reverse severe deforestation. According to the UN Environment Programme, forest cover in Ethiopia had fallen to about 4 percent of the country’s land area by the 2000s, down from roughly 35 percent a century earlier.
The target for the single-day event was 200 million seedlings. Schools and government offices suspended operations so staff could take part, and UN agencies and international organizations also joined. Minister of Innovation and Technology Getahun Mekuria announced at the end of the day that 353,633,660 seedlings had been planted across roughly 1,000 locations in about twelve hours.
That figure would surpass India’s 2017 record, when about 1.5 million volunteers planted 66 million trees in a similar timeframe, by more than five times.
The international response was positive. Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, then director of the African office of the UN Environment Programme, said afforestation was the most effective means of combating climate change.
Record never formally registered
The claim was never officially confirmed. Guinness spokesperson Jessica Dowse told AFP that Ethiopia never applied for recognition, and no official Guinness record was awarded. The count, compiled by the government across hundreds of sites in twelve hours, came from the party with the greatest interest in a strong result.
Ethiopia continued the Green Legacy program each year, reporting about 40 billion seedlings planted in total by 2024. A 2022 statement from the prime minister’s office said the initiative had produced results.
Scientists are more cautious. A 2025 study of the Gubalafto district found an average tree survival rate of only 39.8 percent over the 2019 to 2024 period. A separate analysis drawing on 38 studies said the absence of reliable data on how many trees actually survived made the program difficult to evaluate, and urged a shift in focus from the number of seedlings planted to genuine ecosystem restoration.
The number of nurseries in the country grew from fewer than 40,000 to about 121,000 between 2019 and 2022.
