Muhammad Faisal Kaleem

In a landmark achievement, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC&EC) has planted over 2.23 billion saplings countrywide in collaboration with the provincial departments.

The plantations were made under the government’s national flagship initiative “Upscaling Green Pakistan Program (UGPP)”.  The program aims to plant 3.29 billion saplings by 2028.

According to the documents available with WealthPK, the ministry managed to plant 2.22974 billion saplings from 2019 to December 2024, achieving 68 percent of the target.

Sindh led the provinces by planting 856.01 million saplings, achieving 85 percent of the target, while Balochistan could plant only 24.55 million saplings during the period.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came second with 713.25 million plantations; Punjab stood third with 364.79 million plantations (77%); while Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) made 177.05 million and 94.10 million plantations, respectively.

The year-wise breakup of the program’s physical progress shows 125.99 million plantations in 2023, 233.41 million in 2022, 766.50 million in 2021, 595.37 million in 2020, and 492.03 million in 2019.

According to a well-informed official at the ministry, Pakistan loses around 11,000 hectares of land annually due to wildfires, climate change, and land conversion. To stem this loss and to keep the country green, the ministry also took some other steps along with the UGPP.

An interprovincial coordination committee on illegal wood-cutting and interprovincial timber movement was constituted last year. The committee, in its meetings, highlighted key issues related to forests and gave recommendations to the relevant provinces accordingly.  

Moreover, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken strict action against forest fires. Following the premier’s directives, the ministry, together with all the provinces and AJK and GB, developed the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on forest fires.

The ministry regularly collects and compiles forest fire monitoring data at the national level, which is reviewed in the national coordination meetings. In KP’s two valleys, a prototype of an early warning system for forest fires has been installed, which is in the testing phase.

Furthermore, the ministry has revived the federal forestry board to discuss the forestry-related issues, including deforestation and enhancement in the forest and tree cover in line with the National Forest Police 2017.

Overall, the provincial governments have revised some acts, policies and rules including Punjab Forestry Policy 2019, Sindh SFM policy 2023 (Amended), KP Forest Ordinance 2002, KP Protected Forest Mgt, Rules 2005, Balochistan Forest Act 2022, Gilgit-Baltistan Forest Act 2019, GB Forest Force Rules 2020, GB wildlife Biodiversity Areas Act 2021 and Jammu and Kashmir Forest Regulations (Amendment) act 2017.

According to documents, owing to large-scale restoration of mangroves since early 1990s, the mangrove cover in Pakistan has recorded 300 percent increase, making Pakistan the only country in the region with the expanding cover of mangrove forests.

Credit: INP-WealthPk