USAID to plant 0.24m plants in south Punjab

MULTAN: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will plant more than 200,000 plants in Multan under the project of Punjab Workforce Development in collaboration with the Multan city district government regarding the Green Pakistan campaign.

The USAID, under the PYWD project, has donated 40,000 plants to south Punjab districts, including Bahawalpur, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh, and organising awareness sessions on significance of tree plantation in environment conservation.

Inaugurating the tree plantation drive here at Qasim Fort on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Mudassar Riaz Malik said the country was facing different environmental challenges, including deforestation, air pollution, climate change, pesticides misuse, soil erosion, natural disasters and desertification. The environmental challenges are more serious in nature and going to vulnerable stage with the expansion in country’s economy and growing population influx, he added.

Tthe USAID-PYWD project chief Qaiser Nadeem said the USAID-PYWD project had donated 40,000 plants in Bahawalpur, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh and also organising awareness sessions in this regard. “These events are instrumental in behaviour change campaign being launched by the PYWD project in a bid to sensitise the project beneficiaries, including youth and local communities, by fostering constructive attitude and responsible citizenship towards green and prosperous Pakistan.

The skills of USAID-Punjab Youth Workforce Development (PYWD) project’s skill-based trainings are transforming the livelihood of 10 000 youth, including 35 per cent women of 16-29 years of age in Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur and Muzaffargarh. The project has engaged the trainers to produce skilled workforce for the industry and create partnership with the public-private sector employers for job placement of the trained youth.

The trainees have also developed socially constructive attitude towards life and learned soft skills, including responsibility, leadership and decision-making, he added.