TRI Pakistan

The TRI Project in Pakistan, a testament to the power of community collaboration, employed seed balls, crafted by local communities, to revive 200 hectares of degraded Chitral Chilgoza Forests. This initiative showcased an inspiring model for Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) and underscored the significant ecological and socio-economic impact that can be achieved when local communities are empowered and involved in such projects.

FAO Pakistan is implementing the project “Reversing Deforestation and Degradation in High Conservation-Value, Chilgoza Pine Forests in Pakistan” under The Restoration Initiative (TRI). TRI aims to improve local livelihoods through increased productivity and enhanced services and functions of Chilgoza forests in Pakistan, responding to the vision that FLR is more than just planting trees; it is restoring a whole landscape to meet present and future needs and offering multiple benefits and land uses over time. The project is operative in the District Chitral of Khyber Pukhtunkhaw, Sherani District of Balochistan, the South-Waziristan District of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan, and applies the FLR approach holistically.

The Chitral Chilghoza Forests landscape, a vital resource for the indigenous Kalash and Khow communities, has faced challenges. However, hope was restored through the use of a simple yet innovative solution – seed balls, which actively involved local communities. This led to the revival of over 200 hectares of previously degraded forest, significantly improving the livelihoods of these communities and fostering a sense of optimism for the future. These seed balls were then thrown into identified degraded sites with potential for FLR, which were jointly identified by project staff and local Chilgoza Forest Protection Committees during the annual ANR survey and monitoring in the target valleys in Chitral.… Read the rest