To what extent has afforestation been successful in Pakistan? Give examples to support your answer. [6]
Answers
Pakistan’s “Ten Billion Trees Tsunami” drive to plant trees across the country may offer a great opportunity to deal with climate change impacts, as long as care is taken in its planning and execution.Pakistan has recently kicked off a country-wide “10 Billion Trees Tsunami” campaign, specifically aimed to counter climate change through a massive afforestation drive. The government envisages this drive will also bring in economic returns as early as 2020. If this drive is carried out with a strategic approach, especially in the tree species planted, it will improve safety and wellbeing of the people manifold, including vitally important flood prevention.Pakistan will not be the first country to use large-scale afforestation to combat urgent challenges. Michael Wolosin, president of Washington DC based firm Forest Climate Analytics, examined the various afforestation, reforestation and (forest) restoration efforts in India, China and South Korea. According to Wolosin, tree plantation programmes by these three countries, overall, helped remove about 12 billion metric tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide in just 20 years.