ULAN BATOR, Nov 7 (NNN-XINHUA) – Mongolia planted a total of 10.2 million trees across the country since the launch of its national tree-planting campaign “Billion Trees” last year.
Among the total planted trees, 1.3 million have been planted in and near the national capital, Ulan Bator, which is home to over half of the country’s population, local media reported today, citing the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
In Oct, 2021, Mongolia launched the nationwide tree-planting campaign, as the country’s president, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, told the United Nations General Assembly that, the campaign aims to plant at least a billion trees by 2030, to combat desertification.
By the target year, the campaign is projected to increase the country’s forest coverage to at least nine percent and reduce carbon emissions by around 600,000 tonnes.
Desertification and land degradation have already affected 77 percent of Mongolia’s total territory, only 7.9 percent of which is now covered by forests, according to the ministry.
