South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan's  Ten Billion Tree Tsunami  project launched in 2014 by the PTI government has sparked a silent olive revolution in the country.  Pakistan, now the 19th member of the International Olive Council , is producing about 1,500 tons of olive oil per year and 830 tons of table olives,  according to  Juan Vilar Strategic Consultants . It is also helping tackle some of the effects of  climate change  such as soil erosion and desertification and bringing new opportunities to farmers. Olive cultivation was started as a pilot project in Potohar region by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's government in 2014. The PTI government promoted it nationwide as a part of Prime Minister Imran Khan's Ten Billion Tree Tsunami initiative to bring about the olive revolution in the country.  Olive Valley, Pakistan Pakistan is the world's third largest  importer of cooking oil . In 2020, Pakistan imported $2.1 billion worth of palm oil, behind only India's...

Satellite images provided by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) show that greenery in Pakistan has been growing at double digit rates over the last few decades. All of this rapid greening of the country is the result of  intensive agriculture  in Punjab and Sindh provinces. Greening Trends in Asia. Source: NASA Earth Observatory “China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9 percent of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation,” said Chi Chen, the lead author of a study he did with Ranga Myneni at Boston University. “That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation.” The Boston University research team found that "global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since the early 2000s, an area equivalent to all of the Amazon rainforests. At least 25 percent of that gain came in China. Overall, one-third of Earth’s vegetated lands are gree...