News Report [Tree Plantation campaign In Pakistan]

PM Imran Khan launches Pakistan's largest tree plantation drive!!

Prime Minister Imran Khan has launched the country's largest tree plantation campaign on Sunday 9th August with the aim of planting 3.5 million saplings in the country in a single day.

Addressing a ceremony organized in Islamabad on 9th August to launch the drive, Prime minister Imran Khan urged the people to take part in the tree plantation campaign across the country, saying Pakistan is the sixth most affected country by climate change in the world.

"It is the responsibility of everyone to make country green for our coming generations," he said. "I want to congratulate Tiger Force that they planted 3.5 million plants in one day which is highest number in the country's history," he added. The premier said many of the areas in the country will turn into desert and that we have started to feel the adverse impact of climate change in the shape of low wheat production due to untimely rains. In a tweet on Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had urged people to participate in the nationwide plantation drive. He said he had asked MPs, chief ministers and the Tiger Force to join in the "biggest tree planting campaign in our history". The set target is for 3.5 million trees on Sunday, said the premier, adding that he hoped the drive would exceed the set target.

The government has also introduced a ' Green Selfie" an application feature in the Corona Tiger Relief Force (CRTF) - a complimentary application that allow volunteers to upload photos while participating in the nationwide plantation drive. "Plantation is not an option, but a necessity to save the country for future generations," he had said at the launch of the monsoon tree plantation campaign at Shakarparian, earlier this week. He also announced that August 18 would be marked as 'Plant for Pakistan' day, where citizens, government departments and the armed forces would plant trees as a gesture of caring for the country.

Climate Change Minister Zartaj Gul also chimed in on Twitter via a video message inviting youngsters to join the government's efforts for the '10 billion tree tsunami' initiative. "Pakistan is the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change in the world and it is our responsibility to act now", says Imran Khan. Referring to a World Bank report on climate change, that if action is not taken, six districts of Pakistan would be potentially inhabitable by 2050. 

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had launched the campaign in his province by planting a tree sapling on. Speaking to the media, Usman Buzdar said that the incumbent government is committed to completing its target of planting 10 billion trees across the country by 2023. Plants are friends of the environment and tree plantation is the need of the hour, he added, referring to climate change. "It is our responsibility to make the country green for future generations," he said. "The 3.5 million saplings that we have planted is just the start. This is a constant, ongoing battle, but we are not doing this for us. We are doing it for the coming generations," says PM Imran Khan. "This is just the beginning. This is a long battle, but thankfully we have started the process," he said, vowing that trees would be planted in "empty spaces" in cities.

The government continues to pursue its ambitious plan of planting over 10 billion trees across the country.

By: Fatima Noor Jawad, Islamabad