MoCC, CDA plant trees along Embassy Road

Mushahidullah says EPA told not to issue NoC for projects unless affected trees are compensated

ISLAMABAD: With the National Commission of Human Rights, rights activists, and even the top court breathing down its neck over trees felled along Embassy Road, the Ministry of Climate Change and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Thursday planted trees along the road in an attempt to compensate for its earlier action.

Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushahidullah Khan inaugurated the plantation drive by planting a tree along the east service roads of Sixth Avenue.

Speaking to the media, he said that the CDA was working on a number of development projects.

“Embassy Road is being expanded and it is one of those [development] projects, and the details of environmental degradation are shared with the federal Environmental Protection Agency by CDA,” he said, adding that there were three important elements attached to any development project including environmental, economic and social.

Mushahidullah further said that it was important to understand that a compromise could not be made on either on development work or environmental protection.

With the increasing pressure of traffic, the road had to be expanded, he explained. To compensate for the expansion work, the CDA has provided a three to five-year plan for tree plantation. Under the plan, the CDA will plant new trees every year for the next few years.

The climate change minister further said he had instructed the Pakistan-Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) chief not to issue the No-objection Certificate (NoC) to any project unless they had planted a hundred trees to compensate for every tree expected to be affected during the construction of the project.

“The CDA should also devise a mechanism to measure the size, type and carbon storage in trees being affected in any project,” he said adding that they should also try to secure the tree implanter technology which shifts trees from one location to another without cutting them.

The topic of the tree implanter was recently raised in a parliamentary panel which had taken notice of trees being felled in the capital.

Meanwhile, the CDA Director Environment Irfan Niazi maintained that the civic authority will plant around 2,500 trees to replace the trees affected during the expansion of the Embassy Road. The CDA is cutting down 245 trees along the road for the expansion project.

The Deputy Mayor of Capital Development Authority also ensured to comply with instructions from the climate change minister in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2017.