On August 3, 2026, Ethiopia planted 805.3 million seedlings in 12 hours with 26.2 million participants; years later, survival data will reveal whether that extraordinary national effort actually transformed degraded landscapes

On August 3, 2026, Ethiopia hosted one of the world’s most extraordinary large-scale tree-planting campaigns, reporting that 805.3 million seedlings were planted within 12 hours with more than 26.2 million participants. The campaign exceeded its original 800-million-seedling target and formed part of Ethiopia’s broader Green Legacy Initiative, a national program launched in 2019 to address environmental degradation and expand restoration efforts. Official figures from Ethiopia’s Green Legacy dashboard record 805,343,412 seedlings, 26,173,661 participants and more than 291,000 hectares associated with the one-day campaign. Yet the extraordinary headline number represents only the beginning of the environmental story. A planted seedling is not automatically a surviving tree, and the long-term ecological value of this enormous effort will ultimately depend on what happens after planting day.

The scale of Ethiopia’s mobilization is difficult to ignore. More than 26 million people participated, turning tree planting into a nationwide public activity rather than a small conservation project handled by specialists. The government described the campaign as part of the Green Legacy Initiative and conducted it under the theme “Let Us Plant Hope.” The Ethiopian News Agency reported that the country had already planted more than 6.5 billion seedlings during the Ethiopian year by the time of the August campaign, with another 1.5 billion planned for subsequent months.