Daily Times

Forests play an essential role in mitigation and adaptation to climate change effects. Trees are primary barriers to floods. They store carbon from theair, which is a critical reason for global warming and glacier melting. Pakistan is among top ten countries most affected by climate change and having forest cover less than five percent of its area.

This grave reality was realised by ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif last year.The Green Pakistan Programme initiative was formally launched on 9 February 2017 by Nawaz Sharif by planting a tree at Prime Minister Office. The day was declared National Green Day.

The primary objective of the programme is to facilitate the transition towards environmentally resilient Pakistan by mainstreaming notions of adaptation and mitigation through ecologically targeted initiatives covering afforestation, biodiversity conservation and enabling policy environment. The estimated cost of the project is Rs.3.652 billion for a period of five years. A total of one hundred million new indigenous plants are to be planted over the next five years in different ecological zones.These zones include road and canal side plantations, rehabilitation and re-stocking of historical plantations, restoration and improvement of scrub forests, increase in existing cover of mangrove forests, conservation and enhancement in Juniper and Chilghoza forests, watershed and soil conservation in hilly and river catchment areas (reserved as well as community forests), rehabilitation of Guzara and protected forests, protection and augmentation of dry temperate forests and promotion of participatory forestry.The total amount was distributed among all provinces and federating units on the principle of matching grants.

One the first anniversary of National Green Day,we need to look at the one-year performance under the Green Pakistan Programme. According to the official statistics till December2017,total plants planted, sown and regenerated in plantations and enclosures are 15.4752 million and the entireplanting stock established in nurseries is 14.787 million. There were several water harvesting activities and training/workshops arranged under this programme. The seminars on National Forest Policy, Training on REDD+ and Climate Change and Training on Range Management were conducted during the first year.

The second component of Green Pakistan Programme is wildlife, which should also be equally focused. Though Ministry of Climate Change is formulating first ever Wildlife Policy of Pakistan, some practical steps are required under Green Pakistan Programme.

The survival of the whole programme relies on the upcoming elections and the will of the new government to continue this programme

Green Pakistan Programme helped sensitise the masses on alarming level of decreased forest cover in Pakistan. Another critical factor to be considered under this programme is the survival rate of plants.

The harsh weather conditions and the lack of facilities and resources for protection are still a significant challenge. The survival of the whole programme relies on upcoming elections and the will of the new government to continue this programme.

The writer is based in Islamabad and works on environmental issues.She can be reached at zilehuma_1@hotmail.com. Her twitter account is @zilehumma_1

Published in Daily Times, February 12^th 2018.