April 22 has gained another meaning. At Kazakhstan’s initiative, the date will now also be observed as the International Day for the Greening of the Planet, while the UN has marked April 22 as International Mother Earth Day since 2009, DKNews.kz reports.
The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution initiated by Kazakhstan on August 31, 2026. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, 32 countries representing different regions of the world co-sponsored the document.
Tokayev proposed the initiative at the UN less than a year ago
The proposal to establish the International Day for the Greening of the Planet did not emerge from a years-long diplomatic process.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev put forward the initiative in September 2025 during the General Debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. The Head of State proposed designating April 22 as an international day dedicated to greening the planet.
Less than a year later, the proposal became a resolution of the UN General Assembly.
For Kazakhstan, that is the key political result: a national environmental initiative has moved beyond the country’s domestic agenda and entered the UN’s international calendar.
But April 22 was already on the UN calendar
The new international observance has one notable feature.
In 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 63/278 and officially proclaimed April 22 International Mother Earth Day. The decision was adopted without a vote.
The date remains April 22 on the UN’s official International Mother Earth Day page.
Now, another environmental focus will be attached to the same date — the International Day for the Greening of the Planet.
This does not rename or replace International Mother Earth Day. The new resolution initiated by Kazakhstan places a more specific emphasis on greening, expanding green spaces, restoring natural ecosystems and strengthening environmental awareness.
The overlap makes Kazakhstan’s initiative more visible. April 22 is already firmly associated with environmental issues globally, and now ecosystem restoration and greening will receive a separate international focus on the same day.
32 countries co-sponsored Kazakhstan’s resolution
Support for the initiative was not limited to Central Asia.
According to Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry, 32 countries from different regions of the world co-sponsored the resolution.
The document is intended to encourage states, the UN system, international and regional organisations, civil society and other stakeholders to carry out activities and initiatives related to greening and the restoration of natural ecosystems.
The resolution also seeks to raise global awareness of the importance of expanding green spaces and restoring natural ecosystems.
The International Day does not impose mandatory tree-planting quotas on states, nor does it introduce new fines or environmental taxes. Its main mechanism is different: to place the issue on the international calendar and encourage governments and organisations to launch relevant initiatives on April 22.
Kazakhstan plans to expand forest-covered land to 14.7 million hectares
For Kazakhstan itself, the new international day aligns directly with environmental policies already being implemented at home.
According to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the area of forest-covered land in the country is planned to increase from 14.03 million hectares in 2026 to 14.7 million hectares by 2035. These targets are included in the Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Concept for 2026–2035.
Kazakhstan is also considering the creation of forest plantations across more than 1 million hectares, as well as forest-climate projects involving international climate financing.
This gives the international resolution a clear domestic dimension.
Now that Kazakhstan has initiated the establishment of the International Day for the Greening of the Planet at the UN level, the country’s own results in reforestation and tree planting will inevitably become part of the initiative’s credibility.
Kazakhstan planted 234 million seedlings in seven months
The scale of the country’s greening programme is already measured in hundreds of millions of trees.
We previously reported on how Kazakhstan is accelerating reforestation and implementing its large-scale greening targets.
During the first seven months of 2026, planting covered 145,600 hectares, with 234 million seedlings planted. Another 270 million trees are planned for 2027.
In populated areas, the original target has already been exceeded: between 2021 and 2025, 18.1 million trees were planted against a target of 15 million.
These figures now have an additional international dimension. Kazakhstan is no longer only implementing its own greening programme; it has also become the initiator of a UN international day dedicated to the same agenda.
“Taza Kazakhstan” gains an international dimension
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly links the new resolution with the nationwide environmental campaign “Taza Kazakhstan”.
The campaign is aimed at promoting responsible attitudes towards the environment, improving public spaces and strengthening environmental awareness. The new international day takes a similar agenda to the global level.
The connection is more than symbolic. Key areas of work identified by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources include forest restoration, expansion of forest-covered areas, combating desertification and greening populated areas.
For cities, April 22 could become an annual date for large-scale tree planting, the improvement of parks and courtyards, corporate environmental projects and volunteer campaigns.
However, each country and organisation will determine its own specific activities.
The first International Day for the Greening of the Planet will be in 2027
Kazakhstan’s initiative moved from a proposal delivered at the UN General Assembly in September 2025 to an adopted international resolution on August 31, 2026.
The next key date is April 22, 2027.
On that day, the world will continue to observe International Mother Earth Day. Alongside it, the International Day for the Greening of the Planet, initiated by Kazakhstan, will be observed for the first time.
Its focus is clear: restoring natural ecosystems, expanding green spaces and encouraging states, international organisations and civil society to participate in greening initiatives.
We previously covered Kazakhstan’s large-scale greening campaign, reforestation efforts and plans to plant hundreds of millions of seedlings. Now that domestic environmental agenda has gained an international continuation through a UN-recognised day proposed by Kazakhstan.
