Govt plans to plant over 100m saplings in monsoon

Provincial forest departments, CDA and ICT have already made preparations for kicking off the plantation drive .

ISLAMABAD: More than 100 million saplings will be planted across the country by provincial and federal forest departments during the ongoing monsoon season, which set off in mid-June.

“Climate Change Minister, Zahid Hamid, accorded approval to the 103.32 million tree sapling plantation target for the monsoon season at a high-level inter-ministerial and inter-provincial meeting held at the ministry’s committee room,” said Mohammad Saleem, the climate change ministry media spokesperson.

Hamid chaired the meeting, which was held to deliberate upon targets put forward by provincial and federal forest departments, Ministry of Defence, Heavy Industries Taxila, Capital Development Authority, Islamabad Capital Territory and non-governmental organisations.

Saleem said that while approving the monsoon tree sapling plantation target the climate change minister asked representatives of forest departments, CDA, ICT and other departments to utilise all possible resources at hand to achieve the tree plantation target.

Giving the break-down he said that 12 million trees would be planted by Punjab forest department in the province during this monsoon season. Besides, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will plant 70 million trees, Sindh 14 million trees, Baluchistan 750,000 trees, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 3.75 million trees, FATA 1.01 million trees, Ministry of Defence one million trees, Heavy Industries Taxila 1,000 trees, Pakistan Ordnance Factory 4,000 trees and IUCN 500,000 trees, adding that next month a fully fledged monsoon tree plantation campaign under the aegis of the federal climate change minister will be launched.

“Representatives of the provincial forest departments, CDA and ICT have already made preparations for kicking off the monsoon tree plantation next month and sufficient stocks of tree saplings are available in nurseries in different parts of the country,” he added.

He said that present government is committed to boosting country’s forest cover. For this purpose, all provincial and federal government organisations, educational institutions, corporate sector, NGOs and media were being approached and engaged to join the government’s efforts for re-invigorating the country’s ailing forest sector.

“To achieve this goal is particularly important, because forests are the best way to cope with various deleterious socio-economic, environmental and health fallouts of global warming-triggered climate change, particularly floods, desertification, wind erosion, storm-rains and heavy winds, cyclones, sea intrusion, glacial melt, erratic and torrential rain”
he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2017.