Evaluation of Billion Tree Tsunami Project and Its Impacts on Land Surface Temperature: A Satellite Data-Based Investigation

This study investigated the success rate of the Billion Tree Tsunami Project (BTTP), which was initialized in 2013 by the KPK Government and completed in 2017. Our investigation mainly involves analyzing (i) fluctuations of the green fraction by applying a Land change modeler (LCM), gain-loss, and exchange analysis using a high-resolution GLC30 data set. (ii) Forest cover changes in response to the BTTP Project. (iii)Impacts of Green fraction changes towards Land surface temperature (LST) by utilizing a less explored technique Curve fit linear regression model (CFLR). Our Findings indicate that despite the government's claim of increasing the forest cover by 2%, a significant gain was observed in grassland (3904.87 km
²
) with an effective transition of bare land. The forest cover increase was only 0.39% in response to BTTP. On the other hand, the CFLRM-based contributions of LCC transition to LST indicate a significant decline in LST. Despite some positive impact on LST because of the green fraction increase, this project cannot be called a complete success due to its inability to hit the prime objective. The government authorities must revisit their strategies for BTTP so that the ongoing "Ten Billion Tsunami Project" will show better results.