The government-run reforestation campaign “Billion Tree Tsunami” has planted 750 million trees in the formerly forested province of Pakistan.
The four-year project, with the goal of planting 1 billion trees by the end of 2018, was launched by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or KP in hopes to “turn the tide on land degradation and loss” that has happened in the north-western province over the last decade.
Located in the Hindu Kush mountain range, the province is ruled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI party, and their officials and leaders gathered in the national capital of Islamabad on March 2 to mark the progress in their famed BTT (Billion Tree Tsunami) project.
According to a report by VOA News, the party chief and former cricketer, Imran Khan, said the BTT initiative has employed “500,000 people in remote mountainous regions where finding livelihood opportunities is extremely difficult.”
He also added that the project is vital “from an environmental conservation and climate-change mitigation and adaptation viewpoint.”
The $300 million project is reportedly being funded through the provincial government budget, as well as illegal funds confiscated from timber mafia members.
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