Following the lead of Jadav “Molai” Payeng, an Indian man who singlehandedly planted 1,360 acres of forest, India’s Rural Development Ministry will plant 2 billion trees along the nation's 62,137 miles of highways to combat rural poverty and youth unemployment and improve the environment, which suffers from severe air pollution.

According to the World Health Organization, India currently has a youth unemployment rate of 10.2 percent and six of the world’s 10 cities with the worst air pollution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also announced a target of spreading electricity to every home by 2019, relying largely on solar power, and the government is furthering plans to clean up the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.

Source: Treehugger.com