In 2017 Pakistan planted 1 Billion trees

​In August 2017 the last tree in Pakistan’s Billion Tree Tsunami project was planted. The project focused on the north-west province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, planting an impressive billion trees over the last two years.

This project was the idea of cricket star turned politician, Imran Khan, who aimed to restore the province’s forests. Local areas had lost large swaths of forest to widespread unmonitored tree felling, with the decrease of forests leaving the area vulnerable to increased landslides and flooding.
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Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, Pakistan
In April 2016 heavy rain in the area led to flash flooding which killed at least 71 people.
It was because of these problems that the solution of the Billion Tree Tsunami was created - also due to concerns that climate change is already impacting this vulnerable country, with an increasing number of natural disasters happening in recent years. 

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Pictures of a river bank before and after the Billion Tree Tsunami campaign. Image by Imran Khan

​The project was completed earlier than predicted and it is hoped that this success can be replicated across the country. With deforestation being a global issue, this project has highlighted how countries can commit to changing their climate future. There is hope that by planting these billion trees, the project will show what a significant change a country can make to its sustainable future.

The Bonn Challenge

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) congratulated the Pakistani province for reaching the momentous milestone, “This marks the first Bonn Challenge pledge to reach its restoration goal,” the organization noted. The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

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​In 2017 Pakistan was ranked in the top 10 countries most likely to be affected by long term changes as a result of global climate change, by the Global Climate Risk Index
The Bonn Challenge was created in 2011, and called for the restoration of 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030.

More than 20 countries have so far joined the challenge, with many aiming to restore more than 60 million hectors by 2020. The Billion Tree Tsunami project has made it the only province or subnational entity to be included in the Bonn Challenge.

“The Billion Tree Tsunami initiative is a true conservation success story, one that further demonstrates Pakistan’s leadership role in the international restoration effort and continued commitment to the Bonn Challenge,” acknowledged Inger Anderson, director general of IUCN in 2017.