Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Prime Minister’s Advisor on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Saturday said afforestation activities have been prioritised by the present government, because forests have been recognised as the most effective, cheapest way to tackle fallouts of the global warming-caused climate change on the country’s critical socio-economic sectors, particularly agriculture, water, energy and health.
‘The important services forests provide are often ignored or underestimated by many of us as long as we wake up to the unprecedented importance of the forests in dealing with deleterious fallouts of climate change,’ he said while talking to media in connection with the preparations and targets for the spring season tree plantation.
Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to kick off national spring tree plantation drive on February 23 (Sinday) by planting a tree sapling in the country oldest Kundian forest area in Mianwali district. The plantation drive will continue across the country till June 30 under the theme ‘Restoration of Degraded Forests’ as a part of the 10 billion Tree Tsunami Programme (10 BTTP).
Malik Amin Aslam told media that a target of around 250 million tree saplings has been fixed for the spring 2020 season under the 10 BTTP afforestation programme, conceived to re-invigorate the country’s ailing forestry sector. These tree saplings would be planted across the country, most of them in not only new vacant areas but also in the degraded forest areas, he added.
Besides wiping out pollutants from the environment, the forests offer various key services for survival of socio-economic lives, sustained provision of livelihoods of the people and the planet earth’s sustainability, Amin Aslam highlighted. ‘Trees, in fact, help protect soil from degradation and regulate water on farms, mitigate floods, regulate weather and enrich biodiversity. Besides, crops grown in agro forestry systems are often more resilient to drought, excess rain and erratic weather patterns,’ the prime minister’s advisor explained the benefits.
