For much of Southeast Asia, the term "tsunami" conjures up images of devastation. But in Pakistan, a so-called Billion Tree Tsunami has become a symbol of hope.

The monumental effort to plant more than 1 billion trees in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in just over two years has been lauded as “a conservation success story” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That success has since been confirmed by an independent audit conducted by the Pakistani branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

Forest managers say these newly planted trees will help fight erosion, mitigate climate change, and reduce flooding. But the project caught the World Economic Forum’s attention for boosting local incomes and creating jobs, particularly for widows, poor women, and young people.

“I am now getting over 12,000 rupees per month, just by looking after the saplings in my home,” one nursery manager told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2016. “I have also acquired the skills I need to grow different seedlings, and this will help me earn enough even after the project is wound up.”

The effort has inspired a federal Green Pakistan campaign, which aims to plant 100 million additional trees across the nation by 2022.

Now on to our five stories for today, highlighting a wave of new hope cresting in Mexico, shifting perceptions around marijuana use among US veterans, and the scientific quest for a better way to recycle plastic.