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Football legend Didier Drogba helped launch a drive on Friday to plant a million trees to halt deforestation in cote d’Ivoire.

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% (of lost forest cover) by 2030,” he said.

Most of Cote d’Ivoire’s 20 000km² 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 Cote d’Ivoire’s reforestation through helping awareness,” the former Chelsea star said, describing the tree planting as a “noble initiative.”

Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s biggest cocoa producer and a major coffee exporter, plans to reforest eight million hectares by 2045. — Al Jazeera