PESHAWAR: Secretary to Forestry Environment & Wildlife Department KP Muhammad Abid Majeed has said that 45% of the national forests cover area and 51% of the forest carbon stocks are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He was addressing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Working Group on Voluntary Carbon Market forum held here the other day, said an official handout issued here on Saturday. He said in detail that, the most carbon dense forests of the country are temperate forests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which contain about 170 ton Carbon per hectare. Avoiding one ha deforestation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa means emission reduction of 367 tons of carbon dioxide.
There is a sequential protection of Carbon stocks exist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Through natural forests and recent plantation on 2.048-hectare area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made under Billion Tree Tsunami Project a potential of annual carbon Sequestration i.e., 11.20 million tons and gets stock of 194.31 million tonnes, which includes 67.60 million tons in Hazara division, 73.25 million tons in Malakand Division, 3.87 million tons in Southern belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 49.60 million tons carbon in newly merged tribal districts.
Historically there have been emissions of 4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year from deforestation and degradation before 2012 which have been reduced up to 50%, resulting in emission reduction of 2 million tons per year. Protected areas increased from 10% to over 15.6 % which has positive effects on emissions reduction. Due to forest conservation and improved forest management natural forests sequester about 8 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Massive reforestation and forestation projects have been implemented like BTAP and 10 BTTAP which will result in carbon sequestration of 5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Conducted Forest carbon stock assessment in all forests covered regions and also developed carbon tables for 15 major tree species. Forest Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has established satellite land monitoring system in collaboration with SUPARCO for continuous monitoring of forest cover changes. Objectives of Forestry Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is to create a gateway for (carbon) offset buyers and also to create a gateway for national and international investors to channel finance towards growing pipeline of carbon sequestration projects.
Department is Increasing registration of projects in the voluntary carbon market with focusing on ecosystem restoration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Forest Department is also exploring alternative sources of sustainable energy and also exploring non-timber forestry products (NTFPs) and other potential economic and income-generating opportunities for the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Department is also registering other sources of carbon credits (renewable energy) on Verra Standard Carbons for sustainable income for the province, among other things.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022