KARACHI: The Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme (TBTTP) Phase-1, which is scheduled to be completed in period 2019-23, seems slowing down as only 43% of tree plantation and regeneration could be carried out as yet despite lapse of three years.
The Ministry of Climate Change has been assigned to plant and regenerate 3296.25 million plants in the first phase, but so far, only 1423.61 million plants (43%) have been planted and regenerated, which shows a slow pace of work, says a joint report of Pakistan Press Foundation and Media Matters for Democracy.
As per the report of Ministry of Climate Change report, total PSDP amount for forest component was Rs109.38 billion while Rs15.59 billion allocated for wildlife component for period 2019-2023. The PSDP amount released for FY 2019-2020 was Rs7.5 billion against the requested amount of 15.6 billion, showing a financial cut of 52.3% for the first FY of the project. The total PSDP amount authorized for CFY 2020-21 was Rs4900 million against the requested Rs 23 billion with a financial cut of 78.69%.
According to government data, the growth rate of plants varies from species to species. The growth period of plants ranges from 5 to 30 years for broad-leaved plants while this condition differs in conifer plants which may take 80 years to become fully grown tree.
The UN Environment Program says in their report that Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change as only five per cent of the country has forest cover as compared to a global average of 31 per cent, making it one of the six countries most susceptible to climate change.
According to a report of the UNDP, Pakistan is particularly susceptible to increased variability of monsoons, receding Himalayan glaciers and extreme events including floods and droughts.The knock-on effects of these will be an increase in food and water insecurity.
However, according to a report of the World Bank, over 24 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in poverty, which puts them at greater risk to impacts of climate change. This is largely because they have a higher dependency on natural resources and are less able to cope with climatic variability.
The Economic Survey of Pakistan 2021 says that the overall objective of the programme is to revive forest and wildlife resources in Pakistan, improve overall conservation of the existing protected areas and encourage eco-tourism, community engagement and job creation through the conservation.
Ministry of Climate Change information’s report says that the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Phase-I, is a flagship programme of the Pakistan government. The programme’s phase -1 is being executed by Forest & Wildlife Department in all four provinces and federating units including Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The programme is financed by both Annual Development Programme (ADP) and Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
The programme is in consonance with the overall targets to reduce global warming. It is designed in such a way to mitigate the impact of climate change, as trees are the simplest and effective way to tackle climate change caused by greenhouse gases.
To a question that why pace of the program is slow as per data, Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, Deputy Director and media focal person at the ministry of Climate Change, said that Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces had done good plantation work, but there was a slightly low work in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan.
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