Like many other developing countries, Pakistan is also confronted with the monster challenge of deforestation and climate change where about 27,000 hectares forests are being vanished per year due to excessive demands for wood, socioeconomic imbalances and weather’s vulnerability. According to National Forest Policy 2015, Pakistan has only five percent area under forests against 25 percent as per international requirement, which is losing about 27,000 hectares forests per year mostly in community and private owned lands due to climate change susceptibility, encroachment and high population growth.
The policy further revealed that forests in private and community lands in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan are also under tremendous pressures due to climate change and population explosion. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its geographical placement, deforestation and highest population growing at two percent rate annually.
The negative effects of climate change and deforestation could be seen during recent snowfall storm in Murree where 22 people had lost battle for lives besides worst drought conditions during 1999-2003, devastation of 2010 floods, formation of glacial lakes in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan and cyclones on coasts of Karachi and Gwadar in 2008. The previous PTI Government had devised a Green Growth Initiative (GGI) with main focus on forestry, protected areas, national parks, clean energy, climate resilience, sanitation and water management. Subsequently, he said Billion Trees Afforestation Project (BTAP) was launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in November 2014 under which a record of 1.208 billion saplings were raised with an estimated cost of Rs14.363 billion against the approved cost of Rs19.44 billion, thus Rs5.077 billion was saved for the Government kitty.
Terming BTAP as the world’s 4th biggest plantation project successfully implemented by Pakistan after China, India and Ethiopia, he said the project has increased KP’s forest covered area to 26.6 percent in 2018 against 20 percent in 2013, thus surpassing the 25 percent international forests standard for a country. The SUPARCO has also reported 85 percent positive change detection in forest cover area of KP and 88 percent survival rate of BTAP plantations by WWF. Following the success of BTAP, the Prime Minister Imran Khan had launched 10 BTAP on September 2, 2018 to plant 10 billion trees in the country including additional one billion seedlings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 2023. Work on 10BTAP is successfully underway in the province where 505 million saplings were planted through farm forestry, enclosures and general public till January 31, 2022. 270 million plants were raised through man-made plantations; 30 million through sowing and dibbling while over 200 million through general public and farmers. The target of additional one billion saplings would be achieved through natural regeneration in 6,259 enclosures including 2,000 in merged areas spreading over an area of 250,000 hactares and raising of new plantation on 111, 314 hectares besides establishment of Biodiversity Knowledge Parks and others forests initiatives.
KP’s share in 10 BTAP is Rs27 billion for which Rs13.5 billion each would be provided by the Federal and KP Governments. Spring plantation has been started across province including seven merged tribal districts where 104.882 million saplings would be planted with assistance of stakeholders under conventional plantation.
