It’s a rough life in Pakistan, even for a tree.
The country’s hills were once home to endless stretches of pine and fir, but these days Pakistan’s forest cover is somewhere below 2 percent. In the United States, that number is roughly 33 percent and in India 23 percent.
In an ambitious plan to counter this deforestation, which ecologists say is a major cause of deadly landslides, the government of a province along Pakistan’s restive border with Afghanistan says it is a quarter of the way to a goal announced last year: planting 1 billion saplings. The so-called Billion Tree Tsunami campaign was recognized by the Bonn Challenge, a global partnership of forestry ministries to regain green cover.
Strategic Perspectives Through Research and Dialogue
