Rabat – A new environmental project is in the works.

The idea was launched by Moroccan Jamal Berraoui. He wants to plant 50 million trees across Morocco on November 18, Morocco’s independence day.

A national tree-planting day started off as just an idea, but then a number of stakeholders decided to adopt the project, Berraoui told Maghreb Press Agency (MAP).

To spread the concept and to gain more momentum, Berraoui has launched the hashtag #50millions_d_arbres (50 million trees).

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“A huge number of people, companies and public and private enterprises have shown they are ready to take part in the project,” Berraoui said.

He believes the initiative must be backed by councils. The protection of nature is the responsibility of local councils, and is not a political question, he emphasized.

The councils will need to identify areas where tree planting will be possible, and citizens will then participate in the project by helping with the planting on the day.

In 2016, Abdeladim Lhafi, the Commissioner General at the time of the COP22 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference) organised an initiative to plant a million trees in a day in the Jbilat area near Marrakech. Close to 37 000 volunteers helped with planting trees over a 3000 hectare area.