'Green gold' spreads fast in Pakistan

Program acts as safeguard against erosion, helps tackle climate change

HEROSHAH, Pakistan - The change is drastic: Around the region of Heroshah, previously arid hills are now covered with forest as far as the eye can see. In northwestern Pakistan, hundreds of millions of trees have been planted to fight deforestation.

In 2015 and 2016, around 16,000 workers planted more than 900,000 fast-growing eucalyptus trees at regular, geometric intervals in Heroshah - and the titanic task is just a fraction of the effort across the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.