Drogba kicks off Million trees project in Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast and Chelsea legend Didier Drogba took the front seat on Friday as the country launched massive deforestation program.
The former Montreal Impact forward launched a drive for his country men and women to plant a million trees to arrest deforestation menace in the country
The “One Day, One Million Trees” campaign “is a first step, the start of the recovery,” Forestry and Water Resources Minister Alain Richard Donwahi said in Abidjan, the country’s main city.
“Our goal is to recover at least 30 percent (of lost forest cover) by 2030,” he said.
Most of Ivory Coast’s 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 square miles) of forests are considered badly degraded.
Drogba said the “numbers are alarming,” referring to projections that the tropical West African nation would lose all its forest cover in half a century if corrective steps were not taken.
“I am proud to contribute to Ivory Coast’s reforestation through helping awareness,” the former Chelsea star said, describing the tree planting as a “noble initiative.”
Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer and a major coffee exporter, plans to reforest eight million hectares (20 million acres) by 2045.
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Drogba who last played for an American professional soccer Phoenix Rising Football Club scoring 14 goals in 22 appearances, was a major motivational player for the Ivorian national team, the Elephants in his hare days .
He made over 105 appearances for the Elephants scoring 65 goals between 2002 and 2014.