Verdant Pakistan
We could soon see January becoming hot as June, considering the seemingly unstoppable increasing heat with every passing year. So it was in the fitness of things that soon after coming to power, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the launch of Billion Tree Tsunami to arrest the process of growing deforestation. The announcement is being sincerely translated into action and so far, more than a billion trees have been planted all over the country. On Sunday, a nation-wide tree plantation campaign was launched as part of the larger programme to make Pakistan more verdant.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2 million samplings on were planted by the provincial government on the first day alone, according to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan. More than 1.2 billion samplings would be planted in the province over the next 5 years, said the Chief Minister, adding that volunteers from the Tiger Force and the common people were lending a helping hand in the tree plantation campaign. Some of the samplings planted in Khyber district of the province were later uprooted by a group of people on the plea that the saplings were planted on disputed land. The Chief Minister has taken notice of the incident and ordered action against those involved in violating the law.
Underscoring the vital importance of trees in maintaining ecological balance and reversing the process of climate change, Prime Minister Imran Khan rightly said a green future was sine qua non for survival while inaugurating the national tree plantation drive. Over the years, the timber mafia has mercilessly felled trees denuding large tracts of land of greenery. As a result, Pakistan is now counted among 10 countries in the world most vulnerable to effects of climate change. Trees exhale oxygen that we inhale and they inhale carbon dioxide which we exhale. This is one of the countless benefits of trees.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2020.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.