Climate Adaptation
A 10 Billion-Tree Plan Is Restoring Pakistan’s Lost Forests
- Government has begun planting 3.3 billion trees in first stage
- Pakistan has one of the lowest levels of forest cover
A worker prepares planting bags at the Model Colony forest nursery in Karachi.
Photgrapher: Asim Hafeez/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Pakistan’s arid climate and rocky deserts may seem an unlikely place to look for a green revolution, but the nation of more than 200 million people has begun one of the world’s largest reforestation programs.
The government is in the first phase of planting 3.25 billion trees at an estimated cost of around 105 billion rupees ($650 million), Malik Amin Aslam, minister for climate change said in an interview. Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to extend that to almost 10 billion by the time his term in office ends in 2023.