Trees to be planted in areas recently affected by fire incidents

Islamabad: The climate change ministry has initiated a plan to plant trees on all those forest areas in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) that have been affected by the recent fires due to heatwave in the summer season.

According to the details, the climate change ministry, the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) would put in joint efforts to grow new trees in the protected areas where raging fires caused damage to the forest cover.

The first week of this month proved to be most critical as nine fire incidents occurred during this time ranging from Saidpur Range to Golra Range.

The inquiry reports have been prepared but none of them has clearly identified any human intervention in these fire incidents. The negligence on the part of visitors has not been ruled out due to which the reports made recommendations to strictly implement the rules made to protect forest areas in the national park.

The trees will be planted in line with the directives of the relevant experts because invasive species are already adversely affecting the local plant species especially in outer areas of the Margalla Hills.

An official said the pre-monsoon plantation drive has been initiated so they have decided that plants would also be planted in the areas where recent fires damaged the vegetation and forest cover in the national park.

“The heatwave was so intensive and it played havoc with the natural environment in the capital city. The rain spell that started from June 18 helped mitigate further chances of fire incident in the Margalla Hills,” he said.

He said “The rains not only brought a pleasant change in the weather conditions but also reduced intensity of the summer season that was causing fire incidents in the green capital.”