Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has prepared its Provincial REDD+ Action Plan (PRAP) to contribute to the strategy objectives and sustainable management of forest resource.
The total indicative financial size of the PRAP is Rs 2150 million for ten years from 2022 to 2031, reads the draft document.
The PRAP has been prepared with technical assistance from Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation Pakistan, National REDD+ Office Ministry of Climate Change, Forest, Environment and Wildlife Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Forest Carbon Partnership Facility of the World Bank through National REDD+ Office, Ministry of Climate Change provided financial support in preparation of the Action Plan.
According to draft document, the PRAP outlines actions that support investment on improving local livelihoods to address local drivers of deforestation and degradation in order to achieve sub national and national REDD+ and forest policy objectives.
The PRAP identifies measures and interventions that will contribute to national and global goal of reducing emissions.
The goal of KP’s draft sub-national REDD+ strategy is to mainstream and enhance the role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation through effectively reducing greenhouse gases emissions from the forestry sector by controlling and reducing deforestation and forest degradation, promoting conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks and sustainable forest management.
The KP PRAP is contributing to the objective of putting in place the requisite policy, legal and institutional conditions and enabling pillars that are conducive for supporting REDD+ implementation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The PRAP has been prepared stepwise using a highly interactive process entailing consultations with representatives of the multiple stakeholders and with institutional memory holders of the subnational entity.
The KP Forest, Environment and Wildlife Department as custodian of the KP forests advocates that REDD+ policies and measures are designed locally and with full involvement of local institutions and communities.
In PRAP, main drivers of deforestation were prioritized as clearing forestland for agriculture, clearing forestland for housing colonies / settlement.
While three drivers of forest degradation were prioritized by the stakeholders as high demand for energy, construction timber and grazing, illegal timber extraction for selling and improperly managed tourism activities. The PRAP will make a traction through Participatory Forest Management Plans (PFMPs) with an approach that encourages harvesting trees on a rotational basis so that timber and fuel may be produced and used sustainably for local use.
According to the Action Plan, energy and local need for timber are the most chronic drivers of degradation in KP, particularly in high hill areas.
“Cutting of trees for firewood was identified a main cause of degradation. The per capita firewood consumption of KP is reported at 0.4720 cubic meter per year which is the second highest after Gilgit Baltistan,” it added. Illegal harvesting for timber is another cause of degradation. Secondary data indicates that the average annual illegal timber harvest in KP during 1996-2010 was 1.7721 million cubic feet.
For tackling the issue of conversion of forest land into agriculture, the PRAP suggested improvement of forest governance issues including land tenure rights and overlapping policies made without inter-sectoral consultation and institutional coordination.
It also proposes establishment of an effective and transparent forest monitoring system and coordination mechanism to determine if the forest governance and management measures are going in the right direction.
The KP government recognizes REDD+ as a financial incentive-based forest management scheme to incentivize ongoing forest management initiatives and associated behavioral change among the local communities for addressing drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, reads the document.
