ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Over 428 million trees had been planted during last five years in the country by the ministry of climate change in collaboration with provincial governments, non-governmental organisation and the corporate sector.
Around 65 per cent of these trees have survived from natural causes and human interference, said an official of ministry of Climate Change.
“Forests not only play their part in water and soil conservation but also help improve climate, check land degradation and mitigate flood impacts,” he said.
He said that at present, only five per cent of the total land in the country is under forests. Pakistan is among 55 countries categorized as having low forest cover, he added.
A comprehensive plan ‘Green Pakistan’ was being devised to promote forestry across the country.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has directed the ministry to prepare a comprehensive strategy for the purpose and we have started work on it,” he said.
He said consultation process with concerned provincial secretaries had already been initiated as “the national plan, which is at its advanced stage, has to be implemented at the provincial level.”
Under the strategy, the minister said, trees of special species including juniper, Deodar, Sheesam and pine would be planted in different forest pockets to tackle adverse effects of climate change in the country.
To a question he said that consultative process to draft National Forest Policy 2015 has already been completed and the same would be presented before the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in its next meeting for approval.
Source: APP
