It sounds goods: one billion trees. A nice big number that evokes visions of vibrant leafy forests as far as the eyes can see. Under the green ‘tsunami’, 350,000 hectares were planted.

Over the last three decades, a quarter of Pakistan’s forest cover has been lost. Currently, the country has 4.2 million hectares of forests and planted trees. The applaudable initiative of planting trees accounts for roughly 10pc of forests, indicating the wide swathes of deforestation that have taken place for which a billion trees cannot make up the loss.

Deforestation plays an important role in the flooding equation as trees prevent sediment runoff and forests hold and use more water than farmlands. Tree roots absorb water from the soil, making it drier and more able to store access water. Their extensive root systems allow them to act as massive sponges that soak up water. Rainwater that stays on leaves evaporates directly into the air.

Be it the urban flooding of Karachi, or the heartbreaking images of riverine floods of KP, the effects of flooding could have been tempered if tree cover would not be consistently eroding over the years. It cannot be a coincidence that about 90pc of all tree cover loss in Pakistan between 2001 and 2021 was from the KP region.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 29th, 2022