Pakistan's mangrove project aims for $12 billion carbon revenue boost

Pakistan has set a new goal for its carbon trading sales, targeting $12 billion in revenue by launching a mangrove plantation project in the Indus Delta of the southern Sindh province. Officials have confirmed $40 million worth of carbon credits have already been sold from this project. The initiative is part of Pakistan's efforts to tap into the global carbon trading market.

View of the Sindh Mangroves Forest stretched from Iran to India.

The Indus Delta, home to the seventh largest mangrove forest globally, is crucial for Pakistan's ecology and economy. The new project, named Delta Blue Carbon (DBC) — 2, is an extension of the 60-year-long Delta Blue Carbon (DBC) — 1 mangrove restoration project that started in 2015.

The Sindh Forest Department (SFD) is leading these initiatives with foreign private funding. The ongoing DBC-1 project aims to restore 250,000 hectares, while DBC-2 plans to add 200,000 hectares of mangrove growth. The combined projects aim to complete the restoration and plantation of 450,000 hectares of the Indus Delta by 2030.

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Riaz Ahmed Wagan, Chief Conservator of Forests at the SFD, highlighted that these projects position Sindh as the sole carbon credit seller in Pakistan. The generated carbon credits are traded on the global carbon market, offering financial incentives for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

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Pakistan, a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, is striving to combat climate change through such initiatives. With the introduction of DBC-2, Sindh expects to generate a total of $12 billion in earnings by 2075 through carbon credit afforestation sales, further contributing to global environmental goals.

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