ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan has regretted that 70 percent of trees in Lahore were cut off in last 10 years which has made it one of the most polluted cities.
While addressing the 7th Asian Regional Conservative Forum of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Islamabad on Wednesday, the prime minister said that protection of the Country’s environment is top priority of the government and it will make the environment protection part of syllabus.
The prime minister said that Pakistan is a diverse Country as it has 12 ecological zones from desert to Himalayan forests which are rare in the world. He, however, said that the population growth and the lack of interest for protection of environment in the past devastated our wildlife and forests.
Imran Khan said that we will launch massive tree plantation drives across the Country this year as the necessary planning and infrastructure including nurseries have been developed in the first year. He said that the youth will drive this massive campaign.
Furthermore, he said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the first government which took the first major step to deal with the climate change by launching the billion tree Tsunami project. He said that the federal government of PTI has now embarked upon an ambitious plan of planting ten billion trees.
Imran Khan further said that the government has also started another campaign under which vertical buildings will be constructed in the cities. He said that the town planners need to be more conscious of environment protection.
