🌅 How Ethiopia Is Rebuilding Its Forests

Sunrise Stat
October 21, 2026

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Ethiopia has spent the past seven years quietly undertaking one of the world’s most ambitious environmental restoration projects, planting some 47.6 billion seedlings across the country in an attempt to rebuild its native forests and farmland. The program, called the Green Legacy Initiative, has mobilized millions of individuals and groups nationwide, providing them with free tree, grass, and vegetative seedlings in a drive to plant 50 billion of them by 2030 (officials say volunteers planted 800 million seedlings on a single day in August). Government reports suggest the campaign is working, with national forest cover rising from 17% in 2019 to 24% in 2023, accompanied by significant reductions in soil erosion and the return of wildlife to formerly degraded areas.

Forests covered around 35%-40% of Ethiopia in the early 20th century, as lush greenery spanned much of the country’s fertile uplands. However, as the country’s population grew and trees were cleared for agriculture, fuel, and infrastructure, forest coverage plummeted to 16% in the early 1950s. By the 1980s, coverage fell to just 3%, coupled with the loss of around 1 billion metric tons of topsoil each year. Today, around 85% of Ethiopia’s land is degraded to some degree, costing the country an estimated $4.3 billion each year through smaller harvests, reduced income for farmers, and the loss of various ecosystem services.

Ethiopia ranks among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, as heavier rainfall depletes topsoils and triggers landslides, while intensified drought and lost tree coverage rapidly dry out the land. Research shows tree planting campaigns don’t always work (though Ethiopia’s has been more successful than others), however, experts say even if only 30% of the seedlings survive in Ethiopia, it will make a significant impact. In a country with more than 100 million people who rely on agriculture for their livelihood and 16 million who need food assistance to survive, the impacts will reach far beyond the environment.