Ethiopia has claimed it has broken the World Record for planting a staggering 350 million trees as part of a green legacy initiative to grow 4 billion trees by the summer.

The Government are encouraging very citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings to help restore the country's landscape.

Experts say is that forest coverage declined from 35 per cent of total land in the early 20th Century to a little above 4 per cent in the 2000s. 

The Green Legacy scheme saw mass tree planting taking place at 1,000 sites across the country with some public offices even shutting down for the day to let civil servants plant seedlings.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is leading the project, planted trees in Ethiopia's southern region. 

Ethiopia's minister of innovation and technology, Dr Getahun Mekuria, tweeted estimates of the number of trees planted throughout the day. By early evening on Monday, he put the number at 353m.