Secretary Forestry Environment & Wildlife Department KP Muhammad Abid Majeed had said that 45 percent of the country’s forest cover is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 51 percent of the country’s forest carbon stocks are present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Secretary Forestry Environment & Wildlife Department KP Muhammad Abid Majeed had said that 45 percent of the country’s forest cover is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 51 percent of the country’s forest carbon stocks are present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was addressing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Working Group on Voluntary Carbon Market Forum held here in Peshawar on Wednesday. He said the most carbon dense forests of the country were temperate forests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which contained about 170-ton Carbon per hectare. Avoiding deforestation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can result in emission reduction of 367 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Through natural forests and recent plantation on 2.048-hectare area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made under billion Tree Tsunami Project, a potential of annual carbon sequestration i.e. 11.20 million tonnes was added in 194.31 million tonnes, which included 67.60 million tonnes in Hazara division, 73.25 million tonnes in Malakand Division, 3.87 million tonnes in Southern belt of KP and 49.60 million tonnes carbon in newly merged tribal districts, he added. Historically, Majeed siad, there had been emissions of 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from deforestation and degradation before 2012 which had been reduced up to 50%, resulting in emission reduction of 2 million tonnes per year. Protected areas increased from 10% to over 15.6 % which had has positive effects on emissions reduction, he added.
Due to forest conservation and improved forest management natural forests sequester about 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, Majeed said, adding that massive reforestation and afforestation projects had been implemented like BTAP and 10 BTTAP which would result in carbon sequestration of 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. He further said KP conducted forest carbon stock assessment in all forest regions and also developed carbon tables for 15 major tree species. The Forest Department, KP established satellite land monitoring system in collaboration with SUPARCO for continuous monitoring of forest cover changes.
Objectives of the Forestry Department, KP was to create a gateway for (carbon) offset buyers and also to create a gateway for national and international investors to channel finance towards a growing pipeline of carbon sequestration projects, the secretary informed. Morever, he said, the department was increasing registration of projects in the voluntary carbon market with focusing on ecosystem restoration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Forestry Department was also exploring alternative sources of sustainable energy and also exploring non-timber forestry products (NTFPs) and other potential economic and income-generating opportunities for the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Majeed said.
Besides, the department was also registering other sources of carbon credits (renewable energy) on Verra Standard Carbons for sustainable income for the province, among other things, he said. He further added, there was a dire need to map out the carbon potential of KP and conduct survey to identify potential sources of climate finance generation including existing renewable energy sites, existing forestry sites and potential afforestation sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There was also the need to develop a Carbon Offset Development Framework and conduct preliminary carbon sequestration assessments to confirm each site’s viability for generating carbon offsets, he said. The secretary said a liaison with the Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard for accreditation of the offsets based on the findings of the study develop a master plan for the harnessing of carbon finance must be prioritised. The KP government encourages private sector and investors to come forward and join hands with us to bring funding from national and international market under carbon offsets generation in forestry sector,
Source: This news is originally published by urdupoint