Environment and climate are core strategic priorities for the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), stressing that good environmental stewardship is part of the development agenda and ensuring that the Earth can sustainably support future generations.  In line with this goal, AKDN agencies and institutions have worked towards a number of goals, including reforestation.

 example the Aga Khan Foundation and the Mountain Societies Development Support Programme (MSDSP) planted a forest in Roshtqala, Tajikistan, with support from the local community, according to press release issued by AKDN.

AKDN’s Serena tree-planting program has been in place since 1991.  AKDN has reportedly planted over 130 million trees as part of activities that include land reclamation in arid and despoiled lands.  Trees serve to sequester carbon, which mitigates climate change and contributes to biodiversity while providing farmers with long-term assets for food, fodder, fuel and construction materials.

AKDN’s efforts have been successfully undertaken in a variety of environments, ranging from the coastal plains of Kenya – where droughts have posed extraordinary challenges – to the high mountain zones of northern Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.