World Forest Day was observed at Changa Manga the other day. On November 28, 2012, United Nations General Assembly unanimously announced that March 21 of every year will be observed as the World Forest Day to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations. Global warming, pollution and deadly diseases which we are facing today are a direct consequence of growing urbanization and using forest and agriculture land for housing and industrial projects.
Changa Manga, the world’s first manmade forest, is an asset for Pakistan. In the past, the active connivance of forest officials and timber mafia brought this great tree reservoir to the verge of extinction. However, in the past 4 years the things have been changed dramatically.
Not only the unbridled wood mafia has been thrown out of the forest but a fast track development and re-plantation of the 60pc of the deforested area is continuing. Till to date, Out of 8000 deforested acres, more than 6000 have been replanted and the plant retention rate in the last four years is above 90pc. To celebrate this, a huge gathering was organized by the forest department at the Changa Manga Rest House.
To honour the occasion, Provincial Minister Forestry, Fisheries & Wildlife Mian Yawar Zaman, Secretary Forest, Capt. (retd) Jahanzaib Khan, Chief Conservator of the Forest, Shabbir Ahmad Rana, Conservator Forest Lahore, Sardar Fida Hussain, Conservator Forest (Ext & Sericulture) , Khizer Hayat, Assistant Commissioner Chunian, Ayesha Ghazanfar, Divisonal Forest Officer Changa Manga Ch. Hayat Hassan, SDO Changa Manga Forest Imran Sattar, Chairman and Vice Chairman Changa Manga Union Council Rana Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Malik Pervaiz, media, civil society, students of Hazara Public School & College Changa Manga, UVAC, forest workers and public at large was present.
Addressing the ceremony, Zaman said that his department with the support of Mian Hamza Shehbaz Sharif was doing all efforts to retain and improve the forest population in the province. This is being done by the special funds for the forests like change manga and Green Pakistan Program of the federal government. He lauded the efforts of present DFO and his team for completing the fence, two row boundary plantation and boundary road of the forest.
The Changa Manga Lake which was once a ghost place is not one of its kind in the province, he said. Installation of street lights, new huts, fibre roofs, upgraded café, public toilets, new children gadgets, grass turfing, inner embankment of the lake area, rehabilitation of the grassy lawns, 5-acre arboretum, new water falls, new angling deck, cycling track, signage improvement, new benches and dustbins, ornamental plantation, water points and much more has all been completed with utmost honesty and efficiency; the minister told the audience.
Students of Hazara Public School and College Changa Manga along with the minister planted trees in a part of the remaining deforested area.