The Minister Agriculture and Forest Punjab, Malik Ahmad Ali has said that the world is facing the challenge of climate change and the global deforestation and its degradation has a negative role towards climate change for which, initiatives like Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is critically important as a mitigation response to climate change.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of training seminar on climate change & Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) organised by Forest Department Punjab. Malik Ahmed Ali said that World is losing its forest at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares per year and the major culprit for this massive deforestation is the conversion of forests into other uses such as agricultural, housing, industry etc.
The Minister said that in Pakistan too, pressures on forest resources are extremely high and we are ranked amongst the countries with highest deforestation rates in Asia despite of scant forestry resources.