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,” said Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Deputy Project Director, 10 billion trees afforestation project (10BTAP) while talking to APP. He said 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.
While talking cognizance of deforestation and climate change vulnerabilities, he said 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.
