KARACHI: The Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme (TBTTP) Phase-1, which is scheduled to be completed in period 2019-23, seems slowing down as only 43% of tree plantation and regeneration could be carried out yet despite lapse of three years, according to an investigation report released by PPI on Sunday.
The Ministry of Climate Change has been assigned to plant and regenerate 3296.25 million plants in the first phase, but so far, only 1423.61 million plants (43%) have been planted and regenerated, which shows a slow pace of work, says the investigation report made by senior journalist M Nawaz Khuhro in joint collaboration with Pakistan Press Foundation and Media Matters for Democracy.
As per the Ministry of Climate Change report, total PSDP amount for forest component was Rs109.38 billion while Rs15.59 billion allocated for wildlife component for period 2019-2023. The PSDP amount released for FY 2019-2020 was Rs7.5 billion against the requested amount of 15.6 billion, showing a financial cut of 52.3% for the first FY of the project. The total PSDP amount authorized for CFY 2020-21 was Rs4900 million against the requested Rs 23 billion with a financial cut of 78.69%.
A lot of slogans have been spread on social and mainstream media that this program will tackle warming in the country and improve environment, but in reality, there is no significant progress yet because of the fact that trees take years to grow.
According to government data, the growth rate of plants varies from species to species. The growth period of plants ranges from 5 to 30 years for broad-leaved plants while this condition differs in conifer plants which may take 80 years to become fully grown tree.
The growth of plants depends on the climatic conditions and water availability and other site quality factors while some tree plantations have been made in such areas which are already facing water shortage, the investigation said.
A tree starts producing oxygen from 1st year and reaches its peak in 10 years in the case of broad-leaved trees, when it produces around 100 kg oxygen per year. Again, this depends upon the species of plant and the climatic conditions. Deciduous plants produce more oxygen in spring and summer while the evergreen plants provide continuous supply of oxygen, official data said.
The UN Environment Program says in a report that Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change as only five per cent of the country has forest cover as compared to a global average of 31 per cent, making it one of the six countries most susceptible to climate change.
According to a UNDP report, Pakistan is particularly susceptible to increased variability of monsoons, receding Himalayan glaciers and extreme events including floods and droughts. The knock-on effects of these will be an increase in food and water insecurity.
The environmental problems in Pakistan are exacerbated by its large population. The country is the fifth most populous country in the world, which puts increasing strain on the environment. Additionally, according to the World Bank, over 24 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in poverty, which puts them at greater risk to impacts of climate change. This is largely because they have a higher dependency on natural resources and are less able to cope with climatic variability.
The latest Economic Survey of Pakistan 2021 says that the overall objective of the programme is to revive forest and wildlife resources in Pakistan, improve overall conservation of the existing protected areas and encourage eco-tourism, community engagement and job creation through the conservation.
According to the Ministry of Climate Change information, the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Phase-I, is a flagship programme of the Pakistan government. The programme’s phase -1 is being executed by Forest and Wildlife Department in all four provinces and federating units including Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The programme is financed by both Annual Development Programme (ADP) and Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
The provincial governments are sponsoring the programme on cost sharing basis (50:50), while the federating units are being fully sponsored by the federal government through PSDP funds. All the executing agencies have established Project Management Units (PMUs) with dedicated staff hired as per the PC-1 provisions.
The provinces/federating units are doing cost adjustments by promoting assisted natural generation. However, Umbrella PC-I of the programme is being revised, and physical and financial rescheduling will be catered accordingly. The project is formulated to mitigate the climate changes, pollution, land degradation, soil erosion, biological diversity, flash floods and various other associated ecological threats.
The programme is in consonance with the overall targets to reduce global warming. It is designed in such a way to mitigate the impact of climate change, as trees are the simplest and effective way to tackle climate change caused by greenhouse gases. Industrialization and escalation in automobiles induced an increase in CO2 emission, for which serious and urgent action is necessitated. Trees are the major source to sink the carbon and use it as carbon sequestration tool. The plantation of trees is designed to mitigate the adverse effect of carbon dioxide.
To a question that why pace of the program is slow as per data, Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, Deputy Director and media focal person at the ministry of Climate Change, said that Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces had done good plantation work, but there was a slightly low work in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan.
“Gilgit-Baltistan has shown some budget issues while Covid-induced crisis has affected the efforts of the program across the country, including Balochistan, however, we are fully determined and expected to cover gaps and meet the program target in 2023 as all relevant forest conservators and officials of the country had full spirit to achieve the desired goal, said Mr Sheikh who is also a climate change specialist and environment expert.
Mr Saleem Sheikh said that political differences and disputes are big challenge towards the program, however, internal departments’ coordination among provinces is good. He said that in upcoming spring season from Feb 15 to April 15 this year, 600 million trees would be planted in the country, which would be a major boost and cover the gap. Mr Sheikh clarified that whole world had been affected by Covid-induced crisis and our efforts for this program had also been affected by this natural calamity.