Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has given a directive for his flagshipproject – the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Program – to be monitored throughsatellite images. The directive came in a meeting of the Special Committeeon Climate Change held under the chairmanship of the premiere on Monday.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister (CM) of the Punjab SardarUsman Buzdar, the CM of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Mahmood Khan, the CM ofBalochistan Jam Kamal Khan, the Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah MehmoodQureshi, the Minister for Planning Asad Umar, the Minister for Power UmarAyub Khan, the Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Faisal Vawda, theSpecial Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik AminAslam, and the Minister of State Zartaj Gul.——————————
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The SAPM informed the attendees that the Billion Tree Tsunami Project in KPand the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami across the country have reduced Pakistan’semissions growth to nine percent below the Business as Usual baseline andbelow the NDC (Nationally Determined Commitments).
He added that the country’s deforestation rate has significantly declinedfrom 12000 hectares per year to 8000 hectares per year from 2012-2016, andwill decline even more with the success of the Ten Billion Tree Tsunamiproject.
Pakistan is contributing less than 1 percent in global emissions. Theoverall ranking of the country vis-à-vis total emissions has shifted from135 in 2015 to 133 in 2018 on per capita ranking.
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The SAPM also updated the PM about the progress of the 10 Billion TreeTsunami. He stated that the country is set to achieve its first BillionTree target by the middle of 2021, which will be celebrated across thecountry. Additionally, Pakistan is on course to achieve Phase-I of 3.2billion trees by 2023.
The committee was further informed that the consortium of threeinternational agencies – the WWF, the IUCN, and the FAO – has alreadystarted working on the Third-Party monitoring of the Ten Billion TreeTsunami Program.
The PM also stressed the need for water treatment plants to treat thepolluted rivers. He expressed his satisfaction over the progress made inthe Billion Tree Tsunami Program and called for cooperation with SPARCO toensure transparency in the project.
