Women being trained to earn livelihood by plant nurseries

Islamabad: Scores of women across the country have so far been trained in modern ways to prepare plant nurseries that are not only providing them with financial benefits but also meeting requirements of Ten Billion Tree Tsunami programme initiated by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to the details, the training of women to develop plant nurseries is being carried out under Green Growth Initiative's (GGI) of Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project (BTTAP), which has been launched to mitigate negative impacts of climate change by planting trees all over the country.

Bringing improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the local people is part of the four-pronged strategy adopted by the government that included plantation of new trees and regeneration of existing forests; ensuring a high level of transparency; making this a people-centered programme; and taking on the powerful timber mafia or the illegal loggers.

The data being compiled by the climate change ministry showed that female members of the local communities are now very much involved in the establishment of plant nurseries.

“Availability of 350 million saplings for Ten Billion Tree Tsunami programme is a result of untiring efforts of the local communities especially female members who worked hard and developed plant nurseries at the community level,” it said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan has stated that tree plantation drive aims at enhancing tree cover and providing livelihood to the local communities.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said female members of the local communities also got involved in raising plant nurseries to ensure the availability of saplings for large-scale tree plantation in the country.

“The forests were divided into 4,000 enclosures for their natural regeneration. The local people were asked to collect deadwood in return for financial gains. They also benefited from green jobs as forest ‘nigehbans’ or community-assigned guards, who protected the enclosures from grazing, fire, and the illegal cutting of trees,” he said.