Plantation to help remove 500m ton carbon annually from air

Islamabad: The Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project (TBTTP) would help remove 500 million ton of carbon annually from air in next twenty years. According to the details, the climate change ministry has informed the Prime Minister Secretariat that it has set a target to control emission of carbon in the air with the help of TBTTP.

The data compiled by the ministry showed that Pakistan currently produces 480 million ton of carbon every year and it stands 135th in the world in this respect.

Though it is not a big amount of carbon as compared to the developed countries but still Pakistan has decided to control carbon emission that can also help it earn ‘carbon credits’. It stated that 55 per cent of deforestation occurs in the forests that are located close to river banks so the government has started taken measures to prevent it as part of the programme to control carbon emission in the country. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said the past regimes never took measures to prevent deforestation due to which it became difficult to control carbon emission in the air. “The tree cover greatly helps reduce amount of carbon in the air. We have set an ambitious target under TBTTP to remove carbon from air and promote clean and green culture in the country,” he said. He said the low carbon economy is the only solution to cope with the challenge of climate change and the present government is responsibly steering the country towards this green growth.

Over 365 small run-of-the-river hydro projects have been set up in the north providing access to off-grid and affordable ‘zero carbon’ electricity, he said. He said Pakistan is ranked 135th in terms of its contribution to global emissions but has been in the top ten vulnerable countries consistently over the past two decades.