World Environment Day: Pakistan and its 'tree tsunami' project in the spotlight

The goal of the ambitious project called "Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme" is to have 10 billion trees planted in Pakistan by 2023. Photo: AFP

The 2021 edition of the UN-organised World Environment Day will be held today (June 5). This year, Pakistan is in the spotlight. In 2019, the South Asian country launched one of the largest reforestation projects in the world.

Ten billion trees planted by 2023. This is the ambitious project of the "Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme", launched in 2019 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan. The first phase aims to plant 3.25 billion trees in the country, at an estimated cost of about Rs105bil (RM2.8bil). The programme also aims to preserve mangroves (an ecosystem of trees along the coastline), reforest cities and create more than 5,500 "green" jobs.