On March 2nd, 2017, officials of the Pakistani government announced that a massive reforestation campaign has resulted in 750 million trees being planted across a northwestern province since 2015. The monumental initiative, dubbed the “Billion Tree Tsunami,” also resulted in 500,000 impoverished locals receiving jobs.
According to VOA, the trees are being transplanted along the Hindu Kush mountain range in the northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Fortunately, the government-run project isn’t slowing down anytime soon. In fact, the nation plans on increasing the number of planted trees to an incredible 1 billion by the end of 2018.
The Billion Tree Tsunami project was initially started to “turn the tide on land degradation and loss,” and appears to be working. By offering local residents jobs, the government is able to circumvent one of the contributors to land degradation, which is logging. Imran Khan, the party chief of the project, told those who gathered that the project is essential “from an environmental conservation and climate-change mitigation and adaptation viewpoint.”
To prevent the seedlings from being stolen or the trees from being cut down, the regional government has employed a provisional protection squad. One of the main challengers to the area is the timber mafia, which has plans to steal and sell the lumber. Funds that are picked off of illegal timber mafia workers are allocated to the project, which received a $300 million in funding from the Pakistani government.
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