Ethiopia's Green Legacy Initiative (GLI), launched in 2019, has reportedly led to the planting of 48 billion trees over seven years, according to government claims. The initiative's target is to plant 50 billion trees by 2030.
This large-scale tree-planting effort has contributed to a reduction in deforestation, with the annual rate falling from 92,000 hectares to 27,703 hectares between 2013 and 2023. During the same period, the country's forest cover increased from 15.5% to 23.6%.
The Ethiopian parliament established the Green Legacy and Landscape Restoration Special Fund two years ago, allocating between 0.5% and 1% of its annual federal budget, approximately £50m to £110m, to landscape restoration. Ethiopia is set to host the 32nd UN climate summit (Cop32) in Addis Ababa in November 2027.