What can you do with 50 million trees in only 24 hours?
50 Million Trees, 24 hours, 800,000 volunteers
This is what it took India, a nation of more than 1.2 billion citizens, to take a shot at a Guinness World Record by planting approximately 49.3 million tree saplings on 11 July 2016.
According to National Geographic's article, the previous Guinness World Record was held by Pakistan for more than 847,000 trees planted in 2013. 800,000 volunteers from the state of Uttar Pradesh spent 24 hours planting 80 different species of saplings alongside roads, railway tracks and public areas.
This attempt was part of a pledge made by India at the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015. The pledge was made because much of India’s forests and greenery were destroyed in the name of development.
However, it will take Guinness a few months to confirm whether this attempt at breaking a new World Record was successful. We have our fingers crossed!
