PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has conducted a forest carbon stock assessment in all the forested regions and has established satellite land monitoring system in collaboration with Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) for continuous monitoring of forest cover changes, provincial secretary environment Abid Majeed told a forum.

He said that KP contained 45 per cent of the country’s forest cover, and also accounted for 51 per cent of the country’s forest carbon stocks.

Addressing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Working Group on Voluntary Carbon Market forum held here the other day, Mr Majeed said most carbon-dense forests of the country were temperate forests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa containing about 170 tonnes carbon per hectare, adding protecting one hectare of forest land in the province meant reducing carbon emissions equal to 367 tonnes.

“Through natural forests and recent plantations made on over two million hectares under the Billion Tree Tsunami and Ten Billion Tree Tsunami projects, the potential for annual carbon sequestration – a process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form – is 194 million tonnes,” he said.

Satellite system in place to monitor changes in forest cover

“Of this, 67 million tonnes is in Hazara division, 73 million tonnes in Malakand, 3.87 million tonnes in the southern belt and 49 million tonnes in the merged districts,” he informed the audience.

Historically, there had been four million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year from deforestation and degradation before 2012. This, the environment secretary said, had been reduced by 50 per cent, resulting in reduction of overall emissions equal to two million tonnes per year.

“Protected areas increased from 10 per cent to over 15.6 per cent, which has positive effects on emissions reduction,” he said.

Due to forest conservation and improved forest management, natural forests sequestered about 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, he said, adding massive reforestation and afforestation projects will result in carbon sequestration of five million tonnes of carbon dioxide,” he said.

Mr Majeed said he objectives of the forestry department were to create a gateway for (carbon) offset buyers and national and international investors to channel finances into carbon sequestration projects.

“The department is pursuing projects in the voluntary carbon market with a focus on ecosystem restoration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said. “The department is also exploring alternative sources of sustainable energy, non-timber forestry products and other potential economic and income-generating opportunities for the people.”

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2022