Last record belonged to Pakistan, where 847 275 trees were planted in a single day. It happened in 2013. Three years later, on July 11th 2016, this record has been literally smashed by a factor of 60. Yes, around 50 million trees where planted during one day.
The current record for most trees planted in a single day has been set in India, where more than 800 000 volunteers from Uttar Pradesh worked for 24 hours planting 80 different species of trees along railways, roads, and on public land.
This activity was not only related to beating Guinness World Record, but was part of the commitment which India made at the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015. India declared to spend $6 billion to reforest 12 percent of its land by 2030. It is expected that in 14 years from now, India will have 29% of country covered by forests.
Unfortunately, experience shows that there is 40 percent of trees mortality after such massive tree plantings. Nevertheless, officials in India claim that they will be monitoring the trees with aerial photography, in order to see which areas are in danger and may need special attention.
People have huge expectations with this project and hope that trees will help to improve air quality in India.
In my opinion, this information is very positive in the context of illegal logging and massive forest destruction in tropics. It shows that people are able to make impossible things happen by their cooperation, involvement and good will.
Let us hope that most of new trees in India will survive and create beautiful forests, which I wish you to visit one day.
Read more here: India Plants 50 Million Trees in One Day, Smashing World Record
After care is the key for survival of sapling planted in such a way. I feel preparing the pits in summer and filling it will proper mixture of soil, sand and compost before monsoon is must. In Indian condition monsoon rain helps the sapings to acclimatise and stabilise themselves. In the post monsoon period, removal of weeds and irrigating plants at regular intervals improves the chances of their survival.
Let us hope the government machinery as well as vollunteers who have planted the saplings will also bear the responsibility of proper aftercare.