The forest cover in Pakistan is low. The latest forest assessment from 2011 estimates 4.47 million ha of total forest area in the country, or 5.1 percent of the total land area (Bukhari, Laeeq, and Ali 2012). Distribution of forests varies by province and other administrative area; it is highest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (32.7 percent), followed by Sindh (14.8 percent), Punjab (12.4 percent), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (11.9 percent), Balochistan (11.1 percent), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (9.6 percent), and Gilgit-Baltistan (7 percent). The World Bank supported Pakistan's forestry sector until 2000, and then remained disengaged until 2015. Few other donors, primarily the United Nations Development Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and international non-governmental organizations such as World Wildlife Fund, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, maintained support on a small scale. Since 2015, the World Bank has been supporting Pakistan with USD 7.4 million to help the country prepare for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through technical studies, consultations, and capacity-building activities. Long-term forest investments are required to harness the huge potential of forest contributions to resilient ecosystems, rural livelihoods, the national economy, and the global environment. In recent years the government has augmented its attention to forests, as demonstrated by the nationally determined contribution, the Green Pakistan Program, and the Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Program. Future support is needed to enhance and scale up these new and important initiatives in order to strengthen landscape management, reduce poverty and improve livelihoods, and foster private sector development
