Fresh drive: Up to 0.15m trees being planted in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Some 0.15 million plants would be planted in Peshawar district during the current plantation season as the drive has already been started.

An inaugural session of the drive was held in the University of Peshawar where Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr M Asif was the chief guest. The university has set a target of planting 2,000 saplings during the campaign of which 400 were planted on the inaugural day. The ceremony was attended by several senior officials from the district administration, education department, forestry, civil defence, the University of Peshawar along with school children. Speaking on the occasion, the vice-chancellor underscored the importance of tree plantation even at the greener campus of the University of Peshawar because of the message of hope and responsibility trickled down to the society through student community. “The university takes proper care of trees and greenery on the campus. Replacing old and dried trees and plants is also the responsibility of the administration,” he added. Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Johar Ali said that the tree plantation campaigns heighten the talk of climate change from drawing rooms to real-world situation helping societies to move with a cleaner and greener environment. He stressed that the slogan of “Aik bashr and Two Shajr” (One person and two trees) must be practised through the community-driven approach and fault lines of climate change must be anticipated to increase its survival chances. Assistant Commissioner Sara Rehman pointed out that the district administration is taking care of adjoining districts of Peshawar - Charsadda and Nowshera - for 150,000 trees each to have a better cumulative healthy effect of trees in the combined area.