Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme

Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan · Government program · National · since 2018

Pakistan's 2019-2023 federal afforestation programme that reported over 2 billion plants planted or regenerated

Afforestation Reforestation Mangrove restoration Nurseries & seedlings

About

The Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme (TBTTP, formally 'Phase-I: Up-scaling of Green Pakistan Programme') was launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan on 2 September 2018 and run by the Ministry of Climate Change in Islamabad with provincial forest departments from 2019 to 2023, with a PC-I target of 3.296 billion plants planted, regenerated or distributed and a cost of Rs125.18 billion. It scaled up the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project (BTTAP, 2014-2017), whose claimed one billion plants came 60% from protected natural regeneration and 40% from planting; WWF-Pakistan monitored BTTAP in 2015-16 and IUCN recorded it as the first Bonn Challenge pledge to reach its 348,400-hectare goal, while the national audit office and NAB later flagged financial irregularities in it. Independent third-party monitoring of TBTTP was mandated to a consortium of IUCN, FAO and WWF-Pakistan (2020-2025); an IUCN-hosted status table puts achievement at 2,012 million plants (61% of target) for July 2019-June 2024. Special audits by the Auditor General of Pakistan (audit year 2022-23) found 494 million fewer plants than targeted for 2019-2022, Rs5.2 billion of questionable spending in Punjab and hiring irregularities in the federal support unit; a successor 'Up-scaling of Green Pakistan Programme (Revised)' was approved for 2025-2028.

What they run

Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme Phase-I (Up-scaling of Green Pakistan Programme) Afforestation2019–2023

Federal-provincial programme (2019-2023) to plant, assist natural regeneration of, or distribute 3.296 billion plants across all provinces and territories, with a wildlife and protected-areas component.

Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Reforestation2014–2017

Predecessor provincial project (2014-2017) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Department combining block and linear plantations, enclosures for natural regeneration, farm forestry and thousands of private nurseries; independently monitored by WWF-Pakistan.

Trees by type of work

Activity	Trees	Years
🌱 Afforestation	2,027,000,000	2022–2024

Only figures attached to a named program count here. Organization-wide totals sit in the table below.

The numbers

Read this first. TBTTP counts 'plants planted, regenerated or distributed' (including assisted natural regeneration and seedlings handed to farmers), not trees surviving in the ground, and no national survival rate has been published. Figures diverge by source: the Ministry reported 2.027 billion as of March 2023, while the IUCN-hosted status table for July 2019-June 2024 gives 2,012.23 million (61% of the 3,296 million target); the Auditor General counted 1,838.59 million for 2019-2022 against a 2,332.33 million target. Audits found Rs5.2 billion of questionable spending in Punjab (2019-2022), a 137.8 million plant shortfall in Punjab, and unscreened hiring at the federal support unit; the predecessor KP project faced a NAB inquiry (Rs462 million alleged loss) and a Rs3.49 billion irregularities finding. The KP 'one billion' BTTAP claim (1.18 billion plants per the provincial government) is 60% natural regeneration and was not independently counted in full; WWF monitored a 50% sample of interventions in 2015-16. The programme's own site tbttp.gov.pk was unreachable during research.

Metric	Year	Value	Program	Confidence	Source
Trees plantedto date	2022	1,838,590,000	Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme Phase-I (Up-scaling of Green Pakistan Programme)	Independently verified	sourceAuditor General of Pakistan, Special Audit Report on the National Strategic Support Unit of TBTTP, audit year 2022-23, para 4.2.3: 'only 1,838.59 million plants were planted against the set target of 2,332.33 million' for 2019-2022 (shortfall 494 million)
Trees plantedto date	2023	2,027,000,000	Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme Phase-I (Up-scaling of Green Pakistan Programme)	Self-reported	sourceINP/WealthPK, 21 Jun 2023, citing a Ministry of Climate Change document: 2.027 billion plants planted, regenerated or distributed since 2019 as of March 2023; 188.41 million in July 2022-March 2023
Trees plantedto date	2024	2,012,230,000	Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme Phase-I (Up-scaling of Green Pakistan Programme)	Independently verified	sourceIUCN (lead of the TBTTP third-party monitoring consortium) 'Status of project achievements (July 2019 - June 2024)': 2,012.23 million plants against a 3,296 million target (61%); includes plantation, assisted natural regeneration and distribution. Province shares: KP 689.74M, Sindh 764.40M, Punjab 328.00M, AJK 163.59M, GB 51.40M, Balochistan 15.10M
Hectares restoredto date	2017	350,000	Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)	Independently verified	sourceIUCN news, 11 Aug 2017: Billion Tree Tsunami restored 350,000 hectares of degraded forest landscapes, exceeding KP's 348,400 ha Bonn Challenge pledge; 60% protected natural regeneration, 40% planting; 13,000 private nurseries
Survival rate (%)	2016	86	Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)	Independently verified	sourceWWF-Pakistan Third Party Monitoring Report on BTTAP, January 2016, executive summary: average survival of monitored block plantations 86% (79% for roadside/canal plantations, 65% for farm-forestry seedlings) at 6-10 months; 3,774 of 6,758 ha of block plantations monitored

How they report

Transparency

45 / 100 · Partly documented

What earned it

0/20 Publishes annual tree figures: No year-by-year figures found
0/15 Figures are recent: No dated annual figure
10/10 Every figure has a public source: 5 of 5 figures link to a source
0/15 Publishes financials or cost per tree: No financial figure recorded
15/15 Reports survival or monitoring: Survival rate on record
10/10 Independently verified figure: At least one figure confirmed by a third party
10/10 Breaks figures down by program: Figures attached to named programs
0/5 Reports volunteers or events: No volunteer figures or events

Survival: 86% (2016, verified)
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