Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal zone. They act as a barrier for the protection of coastal regions/ports against the disastrous natural phenomenon such as cyclones, wind storms, flooding, soil erosion, etc. Pakistan has approximately 600,000 hectares of mangrove ecosystem.
Pakistan is one of the only countries in the world with increasing mangrove cover.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has told a good thing about Pakistan’s that at a time when climate change has become a global threat, Pakistan is probably one of the only countries in the world with increasing mangrove cover.
Addressing an event at the COP25 in Madrid on Monday, the PM’s aide said, “Not only do they [mangroves] protect our coastal areas from storms they are also high carbon-sequestering instruments.”
The event was organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Panel on Addressing Global Climate Challenges through Nature-based Solutions.
Aslam said, “In Pakistan, an extremely vulnerable country, we have managed to make nature a shareholder in providing solutions.”
He pointed out that Pakistan consistently appeared in the top 10 list of both the long- and short-term Climate Risk Index brought out by German watch every year, which was why they had “to react and adapt”.
He highlighted the Billion Tree Tsunami project, saying it has turned around deforestation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province by “relying on nature to do the job”. He said 60 per cent of the billion trees came from “assisted natural regeneration” of forests.
He said that initially they had not expected nature to bounce back so quickly and instead of the expected growth of 1,000 saplings per hectare they saw 2,500 saplings per hectare regenerated once forest areas were protected.
“It was also cost effective,” Aslam said, explaining that they had originally earmarked Rs22 billion for the project and ended up spending Rs12 billion. “We also created half a million jobs.”
He said this project “allowed us to do both mitigation and adaptation”.
The PM’s aide said the larger 10 Billion Tree project would involve communities and provide more jobs and increase the mangrove cover further.
Via: web desk
