Pakistan’s major Pine nuts (Chilgoza) forest restoration project received a significant international award in Italy on Tuesday.

During the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Forum held in Rome, the project was honoured with the “UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – World Restoration Flagship Award.”

The full title of the project is “Reversing Deforestation and Degradation in High Conservation Value Pine nuts Pine Forests.” It has been implemented between 2018 and 2025 under the Restoration Initiative, a joint effort of the Ministry of Climate Change, provincial forest departments, and FAO.

According to FAO, the aim of the project is to protect and restore Pakistan’s unique Pine nuts pine forests located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pine nuts pine nuts generate more than 25 million US dollars in annual income for Pakistan. After the project’s success, FAO’s restoration model is now being expanded across the country with local funding. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Department alone has contributed 3 million dollars to this effort.

FAO stated that through income-generating activities for local communities—such as establishing Pine nuts processing units—about 20% of the degraded Pine nuts forests have already been restored.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Dr. Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah, Adviser to the Prime Minister, said that a total of 3,800 hectares of degraded forest land has been successfully restored under this initiative.