‘Overarching’ strategy made for spring plantation

Islamabad : An overarching strategy has been formulated to launch a nationwide spring tree plantation campaign in consultation with all provincial forest departments, said special assistant to the prime minister on climate change Malik Amin Aslam on Sunday.

“We have set a whopping target of planting over 540 million plants all over the country during the spring season spread over February to April under PM Imran Khan’s Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme,” the PM’s aide said ahead of the prime minister's plans to launch the Spring Tree Plantation Campaign-2022 on February 22 to be marked as the Plant for Pakistan Day.

He said 7,50,000 scout members of the Pakistan Boy Scout Association (PBSA) will join the plantation campaign besides members of all governmental and non-governmental civil society organisations including educational institutions, political leaders, National Assembly, and Senate members.

Malik Amin said out of over 540 million nation-wide spring tree plantation target for the Spring season-2022, 194 million plants will be planted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, followed by Punjab 74 million, Sindh 140 million, Balochistan 13.50 million, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 98. 76 million and Gilgit-Baltistan 20.64 million plants.

As a part of the country-wide Spring Tree Plantation Campaign, as many as 674 events have been planned, which would be held on Plant4Pakistan Day, February 22. The events would be arranged and organized by the provinces with the active participation of people from all walks of life including 750,000 scouts.

He said that around a single-day target of planting 3.943 million saplings on the #Plant4Pakistan Day has been set while the 12.239 million tree plants would be made available at various plantation sites all over the country for the general public.

Besides, 249.64 million tree plants would also be available at various officially-designated nurseries in all provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The SAPM emphasised that Three-month (Feb-April) season provides an unprecedented opportunity to plant as many trees as possible all over the country for dealing with various environmental problems.

“Planting a tree in spring gives the tree an early start in the growing season. It can then spend the summer and autumn settling in and building a root system before the cold weather arrives. However, all-out efforts should be taken to take full benefit from the ongoing spring season, by planting saplings on a large scale in the country because this is the second major season after monsoon when the soil is ready after receiving good winter rains to let the seedling grow fast and hold their grip on soil strongly,” he said.

Malik Amin said highly climate-vulnerable Pakistan cannot cope with climate risks, particularly floods, torrential rains, desertification, sea-level rise, and heatwaves, which have become increasingly frequent due to global warming impacts, without increasing tree cover. He underlined the need for conserving soil and in this regards trees can play a vital role.

“Being a method to maintain the fertility of the soil by protecting the soil from erosion and nutrient loss, the soil conservation is important because it is crucial for many aspects of the human life and non-living beings. For, it does provide food, filters air and water and helps to decompose biological waste into nutrients for new plant life,” he said.