Tree planting record attempt in India

Residents of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh will attempt to break into the Guinness Book of World Records today, with a massive environmental effort.

An amazing 10,266,736 saplings will be planted at 9,320 sites across the 70 districts of the state, an attempt that would smash the previous tree planting record.

The BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi, stationed in Lucknow, spoke to forestry officials, who confirmed that GPS technology would be use to verify the locations of the planting sites.

The world record attempt is intended to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the future of the planet, especially in heavily populated nations.

Speaking to the Indo-Asian News Service, Roopay Dey, principal of the forestation programme, said: "We are confident of completing our target of planting ten million trees by the end of the day.

"This is the first time that such a giant single exercise is being undertaken in the state," he added.

The previous record was achieved over a three-day period, with 852,857 trees planted in 6,824 Tamil Nadu locations in 2006.

A spokeswoman for the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that the attempt was being monitored.

"The forest department needs to put together all their information," she said. "Once they send us their verification pack we can go through all the evidence and decide whether to accept the record."