‘Two billion mangrove trees planted in Sindh’s coastal areas’

Sindh Minister for Forests, Information and Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that over two billion mangrove trees have been planted in different coastal areas of Sindh “whose record has been computerised for the first time in the history of the country”.

“Planting of more mangrove trees in the province and computerisation of their record has been in progress,” the minister said on Monday while holding meetings with various delegations at the Ali House in Karachi after returning from his visits to the coastal areas of Thatta district, including Kati Bandar.

The minister said a large-scale mangrove tree plantation was an important initiative that would generate more than Rs10 billion in revenue which would be spent on the welfare of the local communities.

Nasir said Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had confirmed that the planting of mangroves in Sindh had almost doubled since 2008 and that Sindh had set three world records of maximum tree planting. He said the PPP chairman’s appreciation for the Sindh Department of Wildlife and Forests had been a pride for them.

Nasir said that as a result of “continuous guidance and instructions from” Bilawal and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the task of planting mangroves on “such a large scale was made possible and completed while planting urban forests in different cities of the province was underway”. A statement said the visiting delegation lauded the initiatives of the PPP chairman, the Sindh CM and Nasir, saying that better results would emerge soon due to these initiatives.