Ministry chalks out plan to thwart fire incidents, tree cutting

Islamabad:The climate change ministry would introduce scientific management of the forests in coordination with the provincial authorities to increase and preserve forest cover in the country.

According to the details, Pakistan is putting in its best efforts to increase forest cover with the help of various projects including Ten Billion Tree Tsunami programme. “The scientific management of the forests would revolve around ‘zero deforestation’ and promote forest resource planning, silviculture, forest protection, surveillance and forest improvement,” the details revealed. An official of the climate change ministry said the deforestation is still one of the biggest challenges confronting Pakistan and scientific management would help the provincial forest departments to skilfully stop cutting of trees with better surveillance and management.

“Now the protection of forest cover has become a science and we will also follow the best international practices to conserve and preserve our forest lands,” he said. He said the provincial departments are generally facing basic problems like fire incidents, grazing or small-scale felling, adding “The timber mafia and construction activities on forest lands have also emerged as the biggest challenges. So we have to address them to protect our forest land and improve green character of Pakistan,” he said. He said the scientific management would also include plantation of trees that need relatively little water, like the ‘azadirachta indica’, a fast-growing mahogany commonly known as the ‘neem’ tree. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said that the PTI government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa has raised the forest cover to 27% and now its federal government has also been pursuing ambitious targets to enhance forest land in the country.