Addis Ababa — The Government of Ethiopia needs to strengthen advocacy and diplomacy to expand the exemplary Green Legacy Initiative to African countries, according to former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

As part of its Green Legacy Initiative, Ethiopia has been planting billions of tree seedlings and sharing some of these to neighboring countries in an effort to combat the borderless impacts of climate change together.

Although the initiative has been admired by countries and regional institutions, the support to expand the good experience looks limited in the continent.

The former prime minister told ENA that it is necessary to work on advocacy and diplomacy to expand the exemplary Green Legacy Initiative to African countries.

According to him, Ethiopia is the first country in Africa that crafted climate-resilient green growth, which includes forestry and watershed activities.

The country has been undertaking tree seedlings plantation programs and integrated watershed management systems to protect the environment from the impacts of climate change.

"While a great work was done previously on the physical one, it was lagging behind on the biological part. Now the Green Legacy Initiative, the scaled up seedlings plantation and forestry is covering the biological part. This is a great example. As many countries have duplicated the physical part in the past, I believe other countries will adapt it."

Besides, Hailemariam believes that showing the good activities being undertaken and the benefits at home, strengthening national and regional advocacy and diplomacy that includes the African Union (AU) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is necessary to expand the Green Legacy to other African countries.

Recall that Ethiopia has started implementing the plan to plant additional 25 billion saplings in the second phase of the Green Legacy program.