Islamabad: Pakistan has announced planting of more than 540 million trees during the spring season of 2022 to tackle environmental problems, said the advisor on climate change.
PM’s special assistant on climate change Malik Amin Aslam said that the plantation campaign would be conducted in consultation with all provincial forest departments and by involving youth, especially scouts, in the plantation drive.
“We have set a whopping target of planting over 540 million plants all over the country during the spring season spread over February to April under PM Imran Khan’s Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme,” Aslam said.
Sharing the details of the plantation campaign, the PM’s aide said that 194 million plants would be planted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province followed by 140 million in Sindh province, 74 million in Punjab, 13.5 million in Balochistan, 98.7 million in AJK and 20.64 million in Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The February-April season provides an unprecedented opportunity to plant as many trees as possible all over the country for dealing with various environmental problems, Aslam said. He urged that “all-out efforts should be taken to take full benefit from the ongoing spring season by planting saplings on a large-scale in the country. Because this is the second major season after monsoon when the soil is ready after receiving good winter rains to let the seedling grow fast and hold their grip on soil strongly.”
Noting that Pakistan is a highly climate-vulnerable country, Aslam stressed the importance of the forest in its efforts to cope with climate risks, particularly floods, torrential rains, desertification, sea-level rise and heatwaves, which have become increasingly frequent due to global warming.
Plant for Pakistan day
Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to kick-start the spring tree plantation campaign on February 22, marked annually as ‘Plant for Pakistan day’. Nearly 4 million saplings will be planted tomorrow across the country and 12.2 million plants would be made available at various plantation sites all over the country for the general public.
As many as 674 events have been planned on Tuesday to encourage the general public to take part in the plantation campaign. Around 750,000 members of the Pakistan Boy Scout Association would join the plantation campaign during the current spring season. The tree plantation programme would be a learning opportunity to get the residents involved in the environment and conservation of natural resources, officials said.
