ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Pakistan's new government will plant 10 billion trees over five years to combat climate change, it has said.

It is an expansion of the existing "billion tree tsunami" project by new prime minister Imran Khan to restore 350,000 hectares of forest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to Climate Home News.

As well as releasing oxygen, the trees are expected to help prevent flooding from glaciers in the north of the country.

Malik Amin Aslam, of the cricket star's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Climate Home News: “Pakistan is facing the brunt of climate change, so I think climate preparation, making sure our development is totally climate compatible, our infrastructure is resilient to climate shocks, is going to be very high priority.”

Pakistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change and PTI's manifesto made several environmental pledges including supporting cleaner energy, water-saving initiatives and building dams.

Pakistan has more glaciers than any other country outside the polar region: more than 7,200 in the Karakoram, Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

They feed the Indus River system, the country's water lifeline. But data gathered over the last 50 years shows that all but about 120 of the glaciers exhibit signs of melting, due to rising temperatures, meteorological officials said.

A glacial lake burst in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan province in July, sweeping away villagers' homes.

Such events are just the start, glacier expert and PMD head Ghulam Rasul told news agency Reuters this week.

"The disasters caused by glacier outbursts in these areas will not stop here. They will continue in the future because there are so many glaciers at risk of bursting," he said.

Years of deforestation, combined with climate change, have led to a spike in temperatures in the region, which has caused glaciers to melt, Rasul said.

Over the past 80 years, he said, the average temperature in Gilgit-Baltistan has increased by 1.4C compared to a rise of 0.6C in the lower-lying regions of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.