Mongolia's “Billion Trees” Movement — Ulaanbaatar's Urban Afforestation Push

Mongolia's government declared a national “Billion Trees” movement in 2021 to combat desertification, dust storms and land degradation, targeting one billion trees nationwide by 2030 under a three-phase plan (2021-24 preparation, 2024-26 intensification, 2027-30 sustained implementation), with a commitment of at least 1% of GDP annually.
Ulaanbaatar, home to nearly half of Mongolia's population and among the world's most polluted and land-degraded capitals, was assigned an urban afforestation target of 120 million trees; in 2025 the city began planting across eight sites, including the IGM Botanical Garden (Bayanzurkh district), a “Green Wall” strip along the river corridor in Khan-Uul district, and district botanical gardens in Bayangol and Nalaikh.
State news agency Montsame reported 84 million trees planted nationwide from 2021-2024, rising to roughly 114.6 million by October 2025; independent regional outlet Qazinform put cumulative planting at 127.9 million trees (8.3% of the billion-tree target) in its latest count, and noted that Mongolia's 21 largest mining companies have pledged a further 608 million trees by 2030.
These figures are self-reported planting counts from state and allied sources rather than independently audited survival or growth data; the pace — roughly 13% of the target after nearly five years — trails the original schedule, and no public third-party verification of seedling survival in Ulaanbaatar's arid, water-scarce climate was found, a documented risk for large-scale afforestation campaigns in Central Asia.

Read the full analysis: https://www.montsame.mn/en/read/353886