Anouar Benazzouz, general manager of Morocco’s Highways Authority. Photo by Justin Catanoso

I stumbled on to this story by walking on the tail end of a weekend press conference. I heard the man above say his country had planted 3 million trees to offset carbon emissions, an extraordinary number. I asked him for an interview; he turned out to be a high-ranking Moroccan government official; we spoke for 30 minutes. Mixed with previous reporting and great research from my Mongabay editor, Morgan Erickson-Davis, a really good story emerged; the link is here. Highlights:

• Through the program, which is headed by Morocco’s Highway Authority, more than three million trees have been planted with another 800,000 in the works by 2017.
• The country’s Department of Agriculture is partnering in the project, which conservationists say paints a stark contrast to many other countries where similar departments pose obstacles to reforestation and afforestation programs.
• The project is funded domestically, but a government representative told Mongabay they may be interested in receiving support from international forest conservation programs.
• Those affiliated with the project hope it can be used as a model for other African nations.