800.000 volunteers planted close to 50 million trees in just 24 hours. (lovelyday12 / shutterstock.com)
In recent years India has been on a mission to save the environment. Back in 2015, the country's government committed to restoring part of their land during the Paris Climate Conference. The agreement signed on Earth Day in 2016, stated that India would spend $6 billion to re-cover around 12 percent of their land in trees. India has some of the most polluted air in the world, and since trees help purify and remove some of the carbon dioxide, this decision was long overdue.
On July 11th, 216 in a period of just 24 hours, more than 800,000 volunteers from the Uttar Pradesh state did the impossible, planting 49.3 million sapplings, breaking a world record for most trees planted in a day. As many as 80 different kinds of locally raised trees were planted on public property, alongside railways, and roads. To ensure that the trees receive the right care, officials say they have been monitoring the saplings with aerial photographs ever since.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said during a tree planting event that the global community knows they need to amp up their efforts to save our planet from global warming. “The world has realized that serious efforts are needed to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of global climate change,” he said. By 2030, Indian officials hope to have 235 million acres of land covered by forests, making a giant step toward reforesting the entire country.
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