The Billion Tree Tsunami was a

tree plantation A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation, or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...

drive launched in 2014, by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, in response to the challenge of

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

. Pakistan's Billion Tree Tsunami restores 350,000 hectares of forests and degraded land to surpass its Bonn Challenge commitment. The project aimed at improving the ecosystems of classified forests, as well as privately owned waste and farm lands, and therefore entails working in close collaboration with concerned communities and stakeholders to ensure their meaningful participation through effectuating project promotion and extension services. The project was completed in August 2017, ahead of schedule.

Inspiration

The Billion Tree Tsunami Project is driven by the

Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ), is the provincial government of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1 ...

’s vision of

green growth Green growth is a concept in economic theory and policymaking used to describe paths of economic growth that are environmentally sustainable. The term was coined in 2005 by the South Korean Rae Kwon Chung ( de), a director at UNESCAP. It is based ...

which ties in the needs for sustainable forestry development, generating green jobs, gender empowerment, preserving Pakistan’s

natural capital Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. All of t ...

while also addressing the global issue of climate change.

Afforestation regions

The Billion Tree Tsunami covers the whole province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

10 Billion Tree Tsunami

On 3 September 2018, after becoming Prime Minister of Pakistan following the

2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 25 July 2018 to elect the members of the 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...

, Imran Khan launched a 5-year, country-wide 10 billion tree plantation drive from Makhniyal, KPK to combat the effects of global warming. Its total cost is estimated at 125.1843 billion Pakistani rupees.

Corruption inquiry

In January 2020, the

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau (; abbreviated NAB) is Pakistan's anti-corruption agency. Its chairman is Nazir Ahmed Butt, a retired general. History The Ehtesab Act, 1997 established an Ehtesab Cell, charged with the investigation and pr ...

started an inquiry on alleged loss of 462 million rupees (approximately $3 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

) in connection with an inquiry it had launched in March 2018. Allegations included ghost labour,

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

, and misappropriation. The Bureau recommended an enhancement of the inquiry to establish whether further losses have occurred. In 2016 the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

(WWF) had published a third party audit report for all the project's phases.

International appreciation

The billion tree program was appreciated by

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

(UNEP), according to their statement “We are at a point in history where we need to act and Pakistan is leading on this important effort.”

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

praised adding 350,000 hectares of trees. Furthermore, congratulated Pakistan for reaching target of billion trees ahead of schedule. Pakistan exceeded its Bonn challenge commitment,

a province in Pakistan became the first international entity to complete the challenge, on success of Bonn challenge Head of

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN)'s Inger Anderson dubbed the project as “a true conservation success story”. Based on international appreciation

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

contacted government of Pakistan to plants 10 billion trees in their country.

References

External links

* {{Cite news, url=https://trendspak.com/billion-tree-tsunami-making-kpk-greener/, title=Billion Tree Tsunami; making KPK Greener and Pakistan brighter, date=2018-03-28, work=Trends Of Pakistan, access-date=2018-10-21, language=en-US * http://www.mocc.gov.pk/ProjectDetail/M2QzOWJmMjUtZTU3MC00NmFkLWE4YmMtZDFhMmRlOGU2NGRh Reforestation Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmentalism in Pakistan Forestry in Pakistan 2014 establishments in Pakistan Climate change in Pakistan