LAHORE: The provincial government is committed to increasing forest cover in Punjab under the Green Pakistan Programme (GPP), to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the most effective way.
This was stated by Punjab Forest Wildlife and Fisheries Department Secretary Capt (Retd) Jahanzaib Khan, while talking to APP on Sunday.
“Punjab is on its way to plant 12 million saplings in the province during monsoon season,” he said.
He further said that the Punjab government is revamping the forest sector to tap its full potential and drive prosperity in the province. Jahanzaib Khan said that all provincial and federal government organisations, educational institutes, corporate sector, the NGOs and media were being approached and engaged in this connection.
The secretary said that including the Punjab government, various entities had already started work on the monsoon plantation with enough stocks of saplings available in nurseries in various parts of the province.
It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government recently approved a ‘monsoon campaign’ which aims to plant more than 100 million saplings across the country.
Besides, KPK will plant 70 million saplings, Sindh 14 million saplings, Balochistan 750,000, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 3.75 million, the Fata 1.01 million, Ministry of Defence 1 million, Heavy Industries Taxila 1,000, the Pakistan Ordnance Factories 4,000 and the IUCN 500,000 saplings, he added.
To a question, he said that the government was well aware of the country’s exacerbating vulnerability to the climate change impacts and was taking all-out measures to boost climate-resilience of the country.
“Green Pakistan Programme, was a clear indicator of the present government’s seriousness towards protecting socio-economic sectors, lives and livelihoods of the people from the climate change impacts, he added.
