Rawalpindi
Taking advantage of the ongoing monsoon showers in the region, the Rawalpindi Forests Department plans to plant over 1.7 million saplings in the North and South circles of the division.
According to Chief Conservator of Forests, Northern Zone, Rawalpindi Ather Shah Khagga, a comprehensive plan for planting trees across the province had been devised to bring the maximum area under forest cover — a basic requirement to overcome environmental degradation. The Forests department would plant over 940,000 saplings during the monsoon tree plantation campaign 2019 in Rawalpindi North Circle.
To promote social forestry, he said students would be involved in afforestation projects in the area, adding that special emphasis was being given on the plantation of shrubs and deep-rooted plants on the banks of Murree Expressway to prevent land erosion and landslides.
Thousands of saplings would be planted in Murree area under bioengineering work, a landslide control technology. To a question, he said their target under the spring tree plantation 2019 had been achieved successfully. He added said main objective of tree plantation campaign is to create awareness amongst the people to plant maximum trees so that problems of environmental pollution could be controlled.
In this regard, he said they would be trying their utmost to reach the sapling-planting target for their circle before the monsoon season ends. He said divisional forest officers and others concerned had been directed to plant maximum saplings during the campaign together with help from local residents, the civil society organisation, officials and students to meet the target.
The Chief conservator added that staffers of the department had been activated to ensure proper forestation in their respective areas which would then be inspected by senior forest officers. He said forests play an important role in supporting and maintaining ecological systems and cycles. Forests depend on and contribute to the many complex processes that are responsible for recycling carbon and water. They also regulate water flows and protect the soil, he added.—APP
