Mongolia plants over 10 mln trees in 1 year to combat desertification

ULAN BATOR. KAZINFORM Mongolia has 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 on Monday, citing the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Xinhua reports.

In October 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 9 percent and reduce carbon emissions by around 600,000 tons.

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.

Photo: news.mn