Volunteers make clean-up campaign a success story

Islamabad: The number of volunteers registered for the Clean-up Campaign in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) has reached 400 due to which they have been allowed to carry out work in groups at different locations with separate timings.

According to the details, the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) initiated the Clean-up Campaign and asked the volunteers to get them registered to become part of this activity aiming at protecting and preserving the national park.

Now the number of volunteers has significantly increased so the IWMB has decided to allow them to work in groups on Saturday and Sunday with the timing of their own choice during the daytime. After the introduction of this new policy, the groups of volunteers collected trash that included wrappers, empty mineral water bottles, plastic bags, tins, used cans, and fruit husks.

The campaign was not time-bound and people were asked to visit the national parks at their convenience and collect garbage bags mainly from the walking trails. The volunteers not only cleaned all the walking trails but also went for the untrodden paths and removed trash from there as well. The national park is one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the green capital. But the issue of garbage and trash has become a challenge for the relevant authorities.

The IWMB in its community awareness and mobilisation efforts has actively engaged the local masses and made them realise their responsibility to keep the trails free from plastic pollution.

‘My waste my responsibility’ is IWMB's motto that it is imparting to residents of twin cities visiting the national park. The garbage that people leave on the hills and mountains affects the inhabitants and the location drastically in numerous ways.

The ecosystem of the national park is important for human lives because it maintains air quality, cleanses and stores water, avoids soil erosion, regulates the climate, and also maintains soil productivity. An official said the clean-up drive began from the car parking and went along the whole walking trails up to the top of the Margalla Hills.