Rapid cutting of trees in the federal capital is causing major environmental degradation and the situation may further deteriorate in the coming years if no attention is paid to issues related to climate change.
Sustainable Policy Development Institute (SDPI) leading environmental expert Kashif Salik said that trees play a critical role in regulating the climate through 0carbon cycle.
Expressing serious concern over illegal cutting of trees, he said that the residents of slums heavily rely on firewood for cooking and keeping themselves warm in the winter season.
He further said that tree cutting in the capital was harmful for the environment and the pollution could reach alarming levels if CDA does not plant more trees in the city and its surroundings.
“Lack of trees could also cause diseases such as sunstrokes and headaches”, he added. Kashif said that after seas, forests are the second largest storehouse for carbon.
He said the trees remove carbon from the atmosphere as they grow by storing carbon in leaves, woody tissue, roots and organic matter in soil.
“Provision of alternative source of energy to the slum-dwellers can greatly help protect vegetative cover that is a vital ingredient of natural environment,” he added.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency senior official said that due to widespread cutting of trees and rapid urbanisation, the temperature in the capital city has started to regularly cross 46 degrees in summer season.
He said that the environment in the city was deteriorating because of new constructions and uprooting of trees.