Manend Team 
ISLAMABAD, (MANEND NEWS): Prime Minister Imran Khan on
Wednesday terming forestation a ‘lifesaver for future of Pakistan’ said
the government was firm to make the country green considering its
vulnerability to climate change.
“For Pakistan, the plantation is not a hobby, but a vital step to give our
future generations a clean and healthy environment to breath in,”
Prime Minister Imran Khan said at the launch of Islamabad’s first-ever
Japanese method-inspired Miyawaki forest at Shakarparian hills.
The Miyawaki technique helps in plant growth, which is 10 times faster
and results in 30 times denser forestation.
Twenty sites in Islamabad have been identified to be developed on
lines of Miyawaki style, also called Potted Seedling Method.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan was among the 10 most
vulnerable countries to climate change and rising temperatures, and
stressed the need for urgent steps to mitigate the challenge.
He pointed that environmental conditions in the metropolitans like
Lahore and Peshawar – once known as the Garden Cities, had become
awful due to increased levels of pollution.
He said the air-borne toxins were particularly dangerous for elderly
and children, and could result in reducing an average eleven years of a
human life.
He regretted that the alarming situation was in fact the fallout of
turning Lahore into a ‘concrete jungle’ by callous tree-cutting and said
rapid forestation was the only way to counter it.
Imran Khan emphasized changing the lifestyles in a way to be ‘more
caring and friendly towards the environment. “Our government is
determined to bring change on earth (through plantation) and to the
mindsets as well,” he said.
He mentioned that the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had
successfully planted one billion trees in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and was
committed to achieving the next 10 Billion Tree Tsunami goal.
The Prime Minister commended the efforts of Special Assistant to PM
on Climate Change Malik Muhammad Amin Aslam and his team for
executing the forestation projects in an effective manner.
He called upon the youth to take reigns of their future in their own
hands’ and actively participate in the government’s plantation drive.
Imran Khan said the inclusion of chapters related to a plantation in the
academic syllabus was also under consideration to sensitize the next
generation right from their early ages.
He urged the schools and colleges to set targets of plantation for their
students to encourage them about being gentle towards the
environment.
“Together, we will make a Green Pakistan – environmentally
sustainable and worth-living for future generations,” he said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister planted a sapling of Pine at Shakarparian,
flanked by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Malik Amin Aslam
and Senator Faisal Javed Khan.
