Pakistan set a schedule with the aim of planting one billion trees in a huge reforestation project they gave the name "Billion Tree Tsunami". Now it is has been revealed that the goal has been reached with them managing to do it way ahead of schedule.

One Billion Trees Cover 350,000 Hectares of Land

Tree Ecosystem

The one billion trees have been planted in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This means 350,000 hectares have been covered with saplings. The project was undertaken to restore the forests in the region that had become depleted due to the Tsunami and other events, along with helping to fight off any effects due to the climate change.

Numerous natural disasters have hit Pakistan over the decades, while felling of trees has also left the region bare. The total land coverage of forest for the region is set between 2% and 5%. This is in stark contrast to the estimated 12% the United Nations recommends. Pakistan has a place in the top six countries where global warming will have the worst effect.

Imran Khan Supports the Billion-Tree Tsunami at Cost of $169 Million

Cricket legend, now politician Imran Khan was behind the Billion Tree Tsunami, with the project set up at a cost of $169 million in 2014. The Tehreek-e-Insaf party of Khan governs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Khan spearheaded the campaign, not just for environments protection.

The project brought together many tree nurseries, which have seen green jobs generated, and boosts in incomes of families. Now women along with the younger generation have jobs in the province.

Imran Khan Pakistan

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had also made a commitment to the Bonn Challenge, of planting 348,000 hectares. Khan is happy that the pledge in Pakistan has been the first one to reach its goal for the restoration of deforested and degraded land. The government plans on the restoration of around 150 million hectares in total by 2020. By 2030, they plan to reforest 350 million hectares.

Some Have Praised the Project Others Not So

Water Tree Billion Tsunami

While the head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Inger Anderson, has called the Bonn Challenge conservation a success, not everyone is happy. There has been some criticism thanks to an official inquiry occurring following allegations of corruption. Others share the joy of Anderson, including the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan experts. They were behind monitoring an audit into the reforestation drive. They said the project was not only an environmental success but also an economic and social one.

With more people being overjoyed with the success of the project, than those who were not, the federal government in Pakistan launched their own Green Pakistan initiative. This is a plan to plant 100 million trees over five years around the country.

This is the kind of competition that the nations of the world should be participating in.