Nearly 5 million trees were planted Wednesday on an area of 1,107 hectares all over Macedonia as part of the 14^th “Tree Day – Plant Your Own Future” campaign.

This year an emphasis was put on bare and wildfire-stricken areas and also trees were planted in urban and rural areas, clearings and corrosive spots.

The citizens joined the campaign in great numbers, according to the campaign’s head Kristina Nikolovska. A novelty this year is that seedlings were planted in settlements, alongside boulevards, on grass areas and in the vicinity of lakes and roads.

“Great energy was felt in the cities as well, not only on rural terrains. If in the past citizens followed the Tree Day campaign in distant areas, today the campaign came to the citizens, where they live and work. With the motto ‘Stop Disasters’ the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia are sending an eco message to the world,” stated Nikolovska.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski contributed to the Tree Day campaign by planting a tree in the Skopje municipality of Aerodrom, while President Gjorge Ivanov planted trees in the garden of his residence together with children with special needs. On different locations throughout Skopje, Deputy PM and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski, Transport Minister Mile Janakieski, Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska and Skopje mayor joined the campaign. Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska also planted a seedling in Veles.

Decorative ash, maple, birch and cypress seedlings were handed out to urban municipalities to be planted in parks on Tree Day.

Wednesday was declared non-working day by the government.

Approximately 50 million trees have been planted as part of the Tree Day campaign since being launched in 2008.