The federal government has so far released Rs 1.25 billion for the plantation of 3.29 billion saplings across the country under the 10 billion tree plantation programme.
These details were shared during a briefing given to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Climate Change on Monday by the representatives of the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC).
The committee met under the chair of Munaza Hassan from the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
During the briefing, Secretary Climate Change Hassan Nasir Jamy told the meeting that some 3.29 billion trees would be planted in a period of four years. This initiative, he said, marks the first phase of the federal government's 10 billion tree plantation programme.
"This is a significant programme that would play a vital role in improving the environmental standards in our country," he said.
Jamy said the government is 'keen' to establish a permanent roundtable on climate change, agriculture and food security for raising public awareness.
In July this year, Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam told the media that Sindh government has agreed to plant one billion trees in the province while Punjab and Balochistan would also plant one billion trees each and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would plant 1.5 billion trees under the 10 billion plantation tree programme.
Meanwhile, briefing the NA Standing Committee on Climate Change, the officials of Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC) said the main function of the GCISC is to research on climate change profiles of Pakistan, climate change impact assessment in different socio-economic sectors and identification of appropriate adaptation/mitigation strategies, capacity building of scientists and dissemination of research findings to scientific community. The agriculture and climate change sector has been contributing 18.9 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP). The major climatic impacts include the loss in crop yields, shortening of growing season length, increased evapotranspiration and increased land degradation, the panel was briefed.
According to the briefing, the GCISC has been engaged with federal and provincial agricultural research and extension institutions to develop research and outreach program to build resilience in the farming sector.
The NA committee recommended that the data-based digitalization mechanism for tree plantation should be initiated with the coordination of relevant departments. The committee also recommended that the parliamentarians and local representatives should be involved in the tree plantation programmes being carried out in their respective constituencies/areas.
The committee further recommended that the Water Policy 2017 should be submitted for the consideration of the committee. The NA panel also suggested that the agricultural manifesto should be constituted in collaboration with the local and international agricultural universities.
Apart from committee members, senior officials of MoCC, GCISC, agriculture universities and provincial forest departments attended the meeting.