Khyber Pakhtunkhwa holds some of Pakistan’s most important temperate and sub-tropical forests — carbon-rich landscapes that regulate water, shelter biodiversity and sustain rural livelihoods. Yet without reliable carbon data, their climate value has remained invisible to the markets that could help protect them.

This project changes that. By developing a designated forest carbon stock assessment and the systems to market carbon credits, we give the province a credible, bankable picture of its forest carbon — and a pathway to finance that rewards conservation over conversion.

Why the project exists

Deforestation and forest degradation are among the largest sources of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. Reversing them is one of the most cost-effective climate solutions available. REDD+ provides the international framework to do so, but it depends on one thing above all: trustworthy measurement.

The programme was designed to close that measurement gap in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — establishing baselines, building local technical capacity, and putting monitoring systems in place so that every tonne of avoided emissions can be counted, verified and sold.

What the project covers

• Forest carbon stock assessment across the province’s major ecological zones.
• A measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system aligned with international REDD+ standards.
• GIS and remote-sensing infrastructure for mapping and continuous monitoring.
• Carbon credit marketing to link verified reductions with compliance and voluntary buyers.
• Community engagement and benefit-sharing to keep local people at the centre.

Who benefits

Forest-dependent households gain a new income stream tied to keeping forests standing. The provincial government gains a robust carbon inventory and a climate-finance channel. And the wider world gains verified emission reductions that help meet global climate targets.

Our aim is simple: make the standing forest more valuable than the felled one — and make sure that value reaches the people who protect it.