Tree plantation: Punjab exceeds target, Sindh lags behind

Interprovincial ministerial committee will decide on targets

ISLAMABAD: An inter-ministerial and interprovincial meeting to hash out the monsoon tree planting campaign 2016 and inaugurate Green Pakistan Programme Coordination will be held at the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) on Wednesday.

According to the MoCC, the spring tree plantation campaign, held in January, had a target of 152.97 million saplings. The target for the Punjab was 12.09 million, and it planted 12.13, a 100 per cent survival rate. Sindh, on the other hand planted just 4.35 million saplings against a target of 7.1 million, with a survival rate 64 per cent.

The target of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was 123 million saplings and Balochistan fixed 1.5 million, of which 1.093 saplings were placed in ground with survival rate of 73 per cent. Moreover AJK planted 3.157 million saplings against target of 1.3 million, with a survival rate of 70 per cent. The FATA planted 4.389 million saplings against target of 4 million with a survival rate of 80 per cent.

The document says that during spring tree planting campaign, the CDA planted 239,000 saplings against a target of 300,000.

Representatives of all provinces, AJK, and national organisations will provide details on nursery stocks available for the monsoon season and indicate their respective targets. The would also deliberate on the specific sites for planting and mechanisms for monitoring survival rates of new planting, resources and constraints. The documents says that it was proposed that monsoon tree planting campaign start from National Tree Plantation Day on August 14 and that special planting days to be arranged from August 14 to August 19.

The document further says that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had wanted to launch the Green Pakistan Programme and the monsoon tree planting campaign by planting a sapling at Bani Gala Reserve Forest on August 14, but that plan has been held up by the PM’s health.

Climate Change Deputy Director Mohammad Saleem told The Express Tribune that during a national meeting on July 27, 2015, a nationwide target of 40.2 million trees was set with the of all provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and FATA, which was not met. The final total was 81 per cent (32.5 million trees plantation) of the target, and survival was at 72 per cent.

He said further that it is hoped that for the ongoing monsoon season, a target of 50 million trees is set.

He said that the in consultation with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, the ministry sets tree plantation targets twice a year, during spring and monsoon as a part of the government’s efforts to reinvigorate forests.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2016.