Minister for active public participation in tree plantation

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan has urged masses to actively participate in ongoing countrywide spring tree plantation drive.

“Through maximum trees plantation, the country can be safeguarded from the negative effects of climate change” he said while taking to media persons. He also highlighted that Pakistan has only 5 percent area under forest and the government was committed to bring the forest cover to the area as per international standard.

He said cutting of forest at large scale and increasing of population in the country were affecting negatively the climate.

Sharing the present government’s initiatives to protect the natural forests, he said  Under Green Pakistan programe the government had planted around 15 million trees while 85 million more trees would be planted till 2021.

The minister said, under “Ghar Ghar Aik Shajar” awareness campaign, free trees would be distributed door to door in Islamabad in 10,000 houses.

Almost 100 students, he said, from different universities of Islamabad would participate in the program.

“We have formulated New Forest Policy while first ever Wildlife Policy of the country is in final phase” he said.

Sharing the last five years progress of the ministry, he said, under spring tree plantation drive about 407.3 millions trees had been planted while in Monsoon tree plantation drive 216.7 million trees had  been planted with the survival rate of 70 percent.

He said that the ministry of climate change, Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad were jointly working on capacity building of employees.