IN 2013, PAKISTAN SET A RECORD. They planted 847,275 trees in a single day. It seemed like a record that would stand for a while, but now, three years later, the record has been truly blown out of the water. India planted just under 50 million trees on July 11, 2016. The countrywide effort took 800,000 volunteers and a lot of saplings.
India’s staggering new record was set in part because of last year’s Paris climate talks. India committed to reforesting 12 percent of the country’s landmass, bringing the countrywide total up to 29 percent. Trees are important in the fight against climate change because they absorb carbon dioxide gas naturally. Deforestation means more carbon dioxide ends up in the atmosphere worsening climate change. More trees means less carbon dioxide.