Earth Day: Civil society plants 100,000 trees

Trees were planted in 38 cities of the country by stakeholders.

LAHORE:

Schools, hospitals, media organisations and the civil society across Pakistan on Monday came together to plant an estimated 100,000 trees in 38 cities of the country to celebrate the 43rd international Earth Day.

The plantation drive has been initiated by the Worldwide Fund for Nature – Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) in partnership with PharmEvo.

The campaign was launched at the beginning of the month under the title Save the Planet in a Nice Way.

WWF-Pakistan’s project Improving Sub-watershed Management and Environmental Awareness in and around Ayubia National Park funded by the Coca Cola Foundation donated 2,000 chir pine tube plants. Universal Agro Chemicals has donated 250 Neem saplings for the drive.

Speaking on the occasion, WWF-Pakistan Director General and CEO Ali Hassan Habib said: “100,000 trees is merely the beginning of a bigger drive. Pakistan is one of the most threatened countries in the South Asian regions when it comes to depleting forest cover, which is essential for livelihoods, human and animal habitat, for sourcing many plants and herbs for medicinal purposes and for providing us with a balanced and healthy environment to live in. The Earth Day tree plantation drive is our way of creating awareness about this critical issue.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2013.