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The #GreenLegacy campaign to plant four billion tree saplings is off to a boisterous start with ambitions to break world records & to supplant previous campaigns that have failed to restore the severely degraded #Ethiopia|n landscape. ow.ly/kxyd50veYtS 
#Ethiopia has 18 million hectares of degraded land potentially suitable for afforestation and reforestation, according to the National Greening Action Program.
#Ethiopia is importing nearly half of its current industrial wood demand, spending approximately $124 million a year, according to the National Forest Sector Development Program.
To meet this demand, #Ethiopia should undertake large-scale plantations in addition to protecting the existing 17.4 million hectares of forest.
Experts are divided about the viability of the #GreenLegacy effort that is being spearheaded by PM #AbiyAhmed, pointing to post-planting maintenance and species selection, reports our staff writer. ow.ly/PQpp50veYEr
It would have been good if the #GreenLegacy campaign considered planting only native trees to restore the degraded landscape, according to Legesse Negash (Prof).
While Legesse is generally supportive and enthusiastic about the #GreenLegacy initiative, he worries about the eventual success of the programme.
“I think we should stop fooling ourselves with quantity and begin to focus on quality, such that a reasonably larger proportion of seedlings will flourish,” Legesse suggested.
"The survival rate of non-native seedlings is high, and the growth rate of the trees is faster compared to native ones.," Feleke Woldeyes (PhD), deputy director of the #Ethiopia|n Biodiversity Institute.
"They cover the degraded areas faster & can be used as ornamental trees for city beautification," the deputy director of the #Ethiopia|n Biodiversity Institute adds.
Forestry expert Alemayehu Wassie (PhD) appreciates #GreenLegacy campaigns and argues that with uncontrolled grazing by cattle, the survival rate of the plantings will be reduced. ow.ly/fMd450vfa1E
Alemayehu says that the experience of previous years exhibited that no more than 30pc to 40pc of the planted trees survive.
Other experts like Mulugeta Lemeneh (PhD), head of #Ethiopia programmes at Farm Africa, thinks the figures do not seem realistic and accurate, stating that none of the seed enterprises in the country has a capacity of supplying four billion seedlings.
Feleke Woldeyes (PhD), deputy director of the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, agrees with Legesse. But with the country experiencing rapid degradation of its forestry resources, exotic species can be taken as a first option.
The #Ethiopia|n Biodiversity Institute has germinated and distributed 1.1 million indigenous seedlings, according to the deputy director of the Institute.
