Pakistan has identified green jobs as a productive means of boosting rural productivity and livelihoods. By creating opportunities to engage local communities in the restoration of landscapes and ecosystem services, the country can simultaneously increase its climate resilience and economic future. Over the last decade, Pakistan has undertaken several initiatives, notably the 10 billion Tsunami Tree Afforestation Program and the Green Pakistan Upscaling Program, outlining the need for a comprehensive approach to restoration that includes economic, environmental and institutional considerations. The Government of Pakistan has identified the need for a next-generation landscape restoration strategy in its Resilient, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RF) as well as National Adaptation Plan. 

PROGREEN is working with the Government of Pakistan to develop a landscape restoration framework for stimulating green jobs and green growth opportunities. The country knowledge program assesses key ecosystems to determine the country's natural capital baseline and the trends and drivers of landscape degradation. Additionally, the team is working to identify key policy, institutional, and investment levers for promoting effective landscape restoration. The program will support the development of a national restoration plan containing (i) outline of areas and ecosystems that provide the greatest benefits in terms of green jobs (including for women), livelihoods, supporting economic development, infrastructure protection, and (ii) a toolbox for decision makers to prioritize and align investments. 

PROGREEN supported the development of multiple knowledge products to inform the drafting of a national restoration plan. One input helped identify optimal micro-watershed sites for restoration and provided spatially explicit recommendations for selecting restoration activities. A second technical report identified land degradation hotspots with the most potential to mitigate or reverse ongoing trends in land degradation at the least cost. Notably, the activity contributed to the integration of a landscape approach to restoration within the country's Green Pakistan Upscaling Program.