ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has pledged that environmental issues will be among the key priorities of his party’s manifesto for the upcoming general elections since protecting the planet was the long-term responsibility of the entire world.
In his message on World Environment Day, which was observed on Tuesday, Bilawal stated safeguarding the country’s natural resources for the sustainable use of our future generations was of paramount importance to his party.
The PPP chairman further said that his party would take practical steps to protect the environment while carrying out economic and industrial projects because sustainable development is the need of the hour.
He said that wildlife and forests were nature’s beautiful gifts to Pakistan, adding that besides initiating afforestation ventures, urgent steps were needed to check deforestation.
While talking about steps taken in Sindh, Bilawal said that 1.1 million mangroves were planted within 24 hours on an island near Keti Bunder in Thatta just two months back.
The Mangroves Plantation Campaign 2018 was the third campaign of a series that aimed to plant about two million mangroves in the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan during the next one year.
As per the Sindh forest department, the mangrove forest ecosystem of Indus delta is an essential life supporting system that provides habitat and shelter to and serves as a breeding ground for a number of wild flora and fauna. It also acts as a barrier for the protection of coastal regions against natural disasters such as cyclones, windstorms, flooding and soil erosion.