City Reporter
To increase tree cover in the city, WWF-Pakistan and Carrefour Pakistan in collaboration with the Parks and Horticulture Authority has initiated an indigenous tree plantation drive.
Under the Lahore Commissioner’s Urban Afforestation initiative and the government’s clean and green Pakistan initiative, a total 5,000 saplings would be planted along the Ring Road, said a spokesman here.
At the launch of the drive organised at Col Arif Alam Shaheed Interchange, Lahore Ring Road, 100 saplings were planted.
Speaking on the occasion, Director General WWF-Pakistan Hammad Naqi Khan said, the plantation was a great initiative as it would help improve climate in the city.
Climate change was affecting through extreme weather events, drought, floods
and heat waves and it was important that such corporate organizations and passionate citizens came forward and extended their support for a clean and green Pakistan, he added.
Country Manager of Carrefour Pakistan Fredick Levy said: “We will continue to raise awareness among people through various activities.”
The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) will grow a dense forest in the city for the first time in the history of Pakistan with the help of Miyawaki method.
LDA sources said on Thursday, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) would support the programme and the forest would be grown at a park near Liberty here, which will help reduce environmental pollution in the city.
The forest will be grown on one-acre land initially and 40 feet hight gaining trees will be planted there.
The project will be self-reliance and fertilizer or water will not be needed for the forest. The Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, that helps build dense, native forests.
The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than the usual.
