Climate change vulnerability can be tackled through forests: Mushahidullah

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ISLAMABAD: Climate Change Minister Mushahidullah Khan on Tuesday said that all-out efforts are being taken to boost Pakistan’s climate resilience by revitalising forestry sector. He was addressing the national consultative meeting ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ (REED+) held in Islamabad.

Talking to participants, the minister said that it was hard to be protected from the devastations of climate change as long as the forests continue to be chopped down. “Forests are the best way to achieve enhanced climate resilience against fallouts of the climate change impacts,” he said, adding, “Most people assume that global warming is caused by burning oil, gas and coal. But in fact between 25 and 30 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year or estimated 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide, is caused by deforestation, mainly the cutting and burning of forests, every year.”

Mushahaidullah, while giving reference to different reports regarding the vulnerability of Pakistan due to climate change, said that due to lack of planning, forest cover had been reduced in the country which now has become a menace for the population. He pointed out that lack of access to energy for cooking and heating in households, illegal tree cutting, population growth and associated surge in wood demand, changes in land cover for non-forestry uses, land erosion and degradation are among major causes of deforestation in the country.

However, Mushahidullah Khan stressed that “controlling deforestation in the country is not possible without increasing access to renewable and alternative energy sources, particularly for cooking and heating in households, reducing occurrence of land erosion and landslides by strengthening forested mountain slopes with vegetation cover and increasing public awareness about positive effects of forests on overall environment, human health and biodiversity.”

Meanwhile, the minister cautioned that involvement of local and indigenous forest community, community-based organisations, and educational institutions are key to bringing new life into the country’s unwell forestry sector.

The event was attended by forest experts from different parts of Pakistan and other countries, who discussed various technical and policy options to boost country’s tree cover as a part of the country’s climate resilience efforts.