200,000 trees engulfed in KP in recent forest fire incidents

Several incidents were reported in the mountainous areas along Swabi, Nowshera and Mardan.

PESHAWAR (Dunya News) – More than 100 incidents of forest fires have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the last month-and-a-half, and consequently more than 200,000 trees have been destroyed.

As smoke from forest fires blankets the forests, a significant damage has been inflicted to Billion Tree Tsunami Project – launched in 2014 by KP government in response to the challenge of global warming.

Several incidents were reported in the mountainous region along Swabi, Nowshera, Mardan and Abbottabad.

The situation has sparked debates on the social media that these incidents could be a conspiracy to fail the project.

According to forestry department officials, more than 1.2 billion trees have been planted in KP areas under the project, and the recent incidents of forest fires have affected less than 1 percent of the planted trees.

Officials are of the view that carelessness of tourists, who throw cigarettes, cutting wood for cooking purposes and burning of dry grass on the mountains by dwellers of the region are the primary reasons of forest fires.

Furthermore, they consider it vital that an awareness campaign, in this regard, be initiated to educate people for preventing such incidents.

The Billion Tree Tsunami Project is driven by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s vision of green growth which ties in the needs for sustainable forestry development, generating green jobs, gender empowerment, preserving Pakistan’s natural capital while also addressing the global issue of climate change