Mongolia marks National Tree Planting Day

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- People across Mongolia on Saturday marked the National Tree Planting Day, the country's largest tree-planting and nature care event.

During the day, Mongolian Minister of Environment and Tourism Bat-Ulzii Bat-Erdene, former environment ministers, staff of the environment ministry, as well as university teachers and students planted over 4,000 trees of 10 species in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park near Ulan Bator.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism urged the public to contribute to environmental protection by planting more trees.

Households, organizations and business entities across the country also planted thousands of trees in their yards and surroundings and took care of their previously planted trees.

In 2021, Mongolia launched a nationwide tree-planting campaign called "Billion Trees" as 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.

Mongolia has a total land area of over 1.5 million square km and only 7.9 percent has been covered by forests so far. Almost 77 percent of the country's territory has been struck by desertification and land degradation, according to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

The Asian country has marked the National Tree Planting Day on the second Saturday of May and October every year since 2010 to raise public awareness on the importance of trees, improve air quality and fight climate change.