Green Karachi Campaign: Commissioner bans sale and purchase of Conocarpus plants
Species were most popular in the city in the last decade
University students do their part to make Karachi a cleaner, greener place to live in by spreading awareness about the environment. They have asked the Sindh government to donate plants for them to plant around the city. PHOTO: AYSHA SALEEM/EXPRESS
Green bushes, known as Conocarpus Erectus, which spread like wildfire across the city in the last decade have been banned due to their harmful environmental and health impacts.
The ban was announced by Karachi commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan during a meeting held earlier this week to finalise the preparations for the 'Green Karachi' tree plantation campaign, a public awareness drive that hopes to plant around 500,000 saplings in the city over the next three months. The campaign will officially be launched at a ceremony near Mazar-e-Quaid next week.
All government departments will be intimated to strictly follow the ban on the sale and purchase of Conocarpus Erectus plants, said Khan. Environmentalists, health experts and horticulturists have on several occasions decried the large scale plantation of Conocarpus plants along major thoroughfares of the city, he pointed out, adding that their plantation would have serious repercussions on the environmental and health interests of the people at large.
All future tree plantation campaigns will be organised under the aegis of the district administrations, clarified Khan, adding that they will plant saplings that are deemed most friendly, suitable and conducive for the environment of Karachi, such as Neem, Lignum, Ashoka, Babul, Gulmohar, and Cypress.
The commissioner added that tree cutting has been made a cognisable offence with violators subject to imprisonment and fines. He appealed to the people of Karachi to actively take part in the Green Karachi campaign. He instructed the six district municipal corporations to plant at least 10,000 trees in their respective areas.
During the meeting, National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) president Naeem Qureshi said that 40 institutions and organisations from the public and private sectors, such as Karachi Development Authority, DHA, cantonment boards, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Site, ports and airport authorities, had expressed their resolve to take part in the soon-to-be-launched tree plantation campaign. On its own, NFEH will plant some 40,000 tree saplings and conduct training workshops.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2016.
The ban was announced by Karachi commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan during a meeting held earlier this week to finalise the preparations for the 'Green Karachi' tree plantation campaign, a public awareness drive that hopes to plant around 500,000 saplings in the city over the next three months. The campaign will officially be launched at a ceremony near Mazar-e-Quaid next week.
All government departments will be intimated to strictly follow the ban on the sale and purchase of Conocarpus Erectus plants, said Khan. Environmentalists, health experts and horticulturists have on several occasions decried the large scale plantation of Conocarpus plants along major thoroughfares of the city, he pointed out, adding that their plantation would have serious repercussions on the environmental and health interests of the people at large.
All future tree plantation campaigns will be organised under the aegis of the district administrations, clarified Khan, adding that they will plant saplings that are deemed most friendly, suitable and conducive for the environment of Karachi, such as Neem, Lignum, Ashoka, Babul, Gulmohar, and Cypress.
The commissioner added that tree cutting has been made a cognisable offence with violators subject to imprisonment and fines. He appealed to the people of Karachi to actively take part in the Green Karachi campaign. He instructed the six district municipal corporations to plant at least 10,000 trees in their respective areas.
During the meeting, National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) president Naeem Qureshi said that 40 institutions and organisations from the public and private sectors, such as Karachi Development Authority, DHA, cantonment boards, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Site, ports and airport authorities, had expressed their resolve to take part in the soon-to-be-launched tree plantation campaign. On its own, NFEH will plant some 40,000 tree saplings and conduct training workshops.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2016.