Pakistan, the 5th most populous country in the world, is also classified as one of the most affected by climate change. To blame is the ever-rising population growth, leading to higher energy demand that is dragging the rural communities towards forest resource depletion in order to meet household energy needs. It is impacting 4% of the country’s already limited forest reserves and creating excessive carbon emissions. This research analyzes deforestation rate, biomass and carbon losses and CO2 emissions in the Malakand Division, Pakistan. The data sources and models used were Landsat (8), GIS, and remote sensing, coupled with self-administered 521 household questionnaires deployed in 23 villages in the proximity of forest land. The results confirm deforestation is occurring at the annual rate of 0.74%yr-1, corresponding to a total emission of 1352055.64 MgCO2eqyr-1 over 17 years (2000-17). The risk of losing forest resources stands at 8,141 species yr-1. The drivers behind deforestation were fuelwood collection totalling 8,501,720 kg used to meet the energy needs of household and commercial activities. The reasons behind this exhaustive deforestation and resulting carbon emissions, as revealed by the household survey, were decling industrial economy and services sector, low off-farm wages and non-availability of financial credit to shift to other sources of income. This study calls for the provision of alternative livelihood opportunities and effective forest management to be associated with the REDD+ mechanism to protect forest resources and address global warming.