PM set to kick off ‘Plant for Pakistan’ tree plantation drive

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to kick off the national spring tree plantation drive on February 23 by planting a tree sapling in the country’s oldest Kundian forest area in Mianwali district.

Advisor on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said on Saturday that the plantation drive will continue across the country till June 30 under the ‘Restoration of Degraded Forests’ theme as part of the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme.

Malik Amin Aslam informed that a target of around 250 million tree saplings has been fixed for the spring 2020 season under the afforestation programme to reinvigorate the country’s ailing forestry sector. These tree saplings would be planted across the country, most of them in not only new vacant areas but also in degraded forest areas, he added.

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The adviser said afforestation activities have been prioritised by the government as forests have been recognised as the most effective, cheapest way to tackle fallouts of the global warming caused climate change on the country’s critical socio-economic sectors, particularly agriculture, water, energy and health.

He highlighted that besides wiping out pollutants from the environment, forests offer various key services for survival of socio-economic lives, sustained provision of livelihoods of the people and the planet earth’s sustainability.

Inspector General Forests of the Ministry of Climate Change Sulaiman Khan Warraich said that a whopping target of 100 million tree sapling plantations has been set by the Punjab government, 83 million tree plants by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 million by Azad Jammu and Kashmir region, 20 million by Sindh, and twelve million by Gilgit-Baltistan region.

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Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence has a target of one million, 0.6 million by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 0.5 million by Capital Development Authority, 200,000 by National Highways Authority, 100,000 each by the Heavy Industrial Taxila and Pakistan Ordinance Factory and remaining plants by the non-governmental oraganisations.

The ‘Plant for Pakistan’ day, which falls every year on February 23, will be celebrated across the country as nearly 1.3 million tree saplings would be planted and around 440 plantation events have been planned by the provincial forest departments, non-governmental organisations and educational institutes.