Pakistan’s flagship Chilgoza pine forest restoration project has earned major international recognition in Italy. The project received the prestigious ‘UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration World Restoration Flagship Award’ during the 80th anniversary celebrations of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Forum in Rome.
The project, titled ‘Reversing Deforestation and Degradation in High Conservation Value Chilgoza Pine Forests,’ has been running from 2018 to 2025 under the Restoration Initiative. It is a joint effort by Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change, provincial forest departments, and the FAO. The main goal is to conserve and restore the unique Chilgoza pine forests in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Chilgoza pine nuts are a valuable resource, generating over $25 million annually for Pakistan. The FAO’s restoration approach is now being expanded with national funding, including $3 million from the KP Forestry Department.
So far, the project has restored 20% of degraded Chilgoza forests. This progress comes through income-generating activities for local communities, such as setting up pine nut processing units. At the award ceremony, Prime Minister’s adviser Dr. Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah highlighted that the initiative has restored 3,800 hectares of degraded forest land.
The international award puts a spotlight on Pakistan’s efforts to protect its natural resources and support local livelihoods. The project’s success is now serving as a model for forest restoration across the region.