Staff Reporter
Peshawar
Khyber Pakthunkhwa Forest Department has prepared a comprehensive plan to combat environmental and air pollution in cities through whopping plantations under 10 billion trees afforestation project (10BTAP) to improve air quality.
Gulzar Rehman, Conservator Southern Circle, KP Forest Department told on Sunday that controlling of environmental, vehicular, industrial and air pollution in big cities including Peshawar was a big challenge and solid efforts was being made to reduce it through massive afforestation under 10 BTAP.
Under the plan, he said, whopping plantations would be carried out on sides of GT road, Islamabad-Peshawar motorway, link roads, canals, water channels, schools, colleges and universities’ lawns from February next year. Non-productive lands in nearby villages, towns and cities of adjoining districts would also be utilized for plantations.
With the help of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others relevant stakeholders and departments, he said, constructive measures would be taken to improve air quality by using the best available technologies and implementing Clean & Green Pakistan (CGP) program in letter and spirit.
Terming air pollution a silent killer, he said, it take lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year world over due to different diseases including lung cancer, heart, EN, allergies and respiratory system disorders especially during the winter season due to shortfall in rainfalls because of climate change and make negative effect on the country’s economic growth. He said pollution and climate change was incurring about nine percent loss to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year and this huge amount could be saved by combating these challenges for which the constant support of public support was vital.
‘Air pollution is very much a cross-border issue in many Asia-Pacific and South Asian countries, where inhabitants share the same air and vulnerable to the above diseases ,’ he said, adding cooperation of SAARC countries were imperative to tackle this invincible killer on collective basis before it pose serious health implications on human, aquatic and wildlife creatures. He said over 3.2 million saplings were planted in the first man made Ghari Chandan Forest at Peshawar during first phase of BTAP aimed at to counterbalance the effects of environmental, vehicular, industrial and air pollutions in Peshawar and adjoining districts.
Terming Ghari Chandan is bigger than Changa Manga forest, the Conservator said it was a big source for wildlife habitats, honey and medicinal plants besides ecotourism attracting families and pharmacists.
Work on Ecotourism Policy (EC) has been started besides submission of a concept paper for establishment of Recreational Parks (RP) by converting a bigger chunk of plantations of Ghari Chandan and Mattani Azakhel forests for promotion of ecotourism.
Knowledge Parks (KP) has been introduced and accordingly one such park was established at Kata Kanre in Kohat. Urban forest policy is in pipeline and baseline for ecotourism policy prepared. He said Work on Forests Vision 2030 is in progress and activities of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) project for scientific management of forest resources and infrastructure development has been accelerated in Hazara division.
Federal Cabinet has approved the first-ever national Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy to tackle effects of climate change and pollution, which would be a game changer for Pakistan. The Conservator said EV Policy would make positive effects on environment, improve air quality, agriculture, economy and that rate of pollution and smog would be significantly drop down in cities and towns due to introduction of electric vehicles.
Pollution monitoring networks would be enhanced in the province and activities would be put in place to improve awareness among masses about importance of trees. Gulzar Rehman said clean and green project initiated by the government would be fruitful for reduction in pollution.
He said Ministry of Climate Change, Islamabad has given a five points agenda for five years including up-scaled 10BTAP, clean green Pakistan, ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags and electric vehicle policy.
He said green clubs were setup in Govt schools and colleges to create awareness among masses about importance of trees in combating environmental pollution. The conservator expressed the hope that recent rainfall would help reduce pollution and smog besides make arid land ready for wheat sowing in KP.
