Government disburses Rs554mln for forestry revival

ISLAMABAD: The government has released Rs554 million during this year to ensure implementation of revival of forestry resources under the Prime Minister Green Pakistan Programme, sources said on Saturday.

The total cost of the programme is Rs3,652.1 million, which has been launched to increase forest coverage and facilitate transition towards environmentally-resilient Pakistan by mainstreaming notions of adaptation and enabling policy environment.

The sources at climate change division said objectives of the programme will be achieved by implementing different initiatives and projects.

The programme has two major projects and will be implemented over a period of five years (2017-2021).

The objectives include plantation of 100 million new indigenous plants, including 20 percent fruits plants, to make the country green and serene.

These would cover 1,000 avenue miles of canal/roadside plantation in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh; Olive and Kikar Phulai forests in Kala Chitta, Pabbi Rasul and Fort Monroe scrub forest of Punjab; dry temperature forest in the federally administered tribal areas, Guzara forest in Murree/Kotli Sattian and Hazara and protected forests of Malakand region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; mangrove forests in Karachi and Badin along with scrub hill forests of Khirthar range in Sindh; Juniper forests of Ziarat and Chilghoza forest in Suleiman range of Balochistan; watershed and soil conservation plantation and
operations in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and
Kashmir moist tropical forest areas.

The other project is strengthening policy measures for conservation of biodiversity and areas to be focussed include approval and implementation of national biodiversity strategy and action plan; establishing of strategic support units at national and provincial level to ensure smooth implementation of ongoing green initiatives and future activities on sustainable basis; supporting communication measures and mobilisation for an environmentally resilient Pakistan; projection of best practices of Green Pakistan Programme through media and international forums; and capacity building of provincial forestry and wild life departments to support afforestation, awareness campaigns and human resource development for sound natural management and biodiversity promotion. 

Moreover, another programme is revival of wildlife resources in Pakistan. The estimated cost of this project is Rs1.065 billion and will be implemented in five years (2017-2021).

The main objective of this programme is to revive and functionally recognise wildlife departments at provincial/AJK and Gilgit Baltistan level through development of time-bound plans, including capacity building and incentive-driven performance regime.