Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, highlighting the importance of forests in checking global warming and pollution, urged the masses to plant at least one tree each to ensure a clean Pakistan for the future generations.
He expressed these views while inaugurating the world’s biggest Miyawaki urban forest, as part of monsoon drive under the 10-Billion Tree Tsunami project.
The prime minister hoped that the development of Miyawaki forest in the provincial capital would help revive the past glory of Lahore, which used to be a city of gardens with trees planted all around, and now was considered as one of the most polluted cities of the country.
He said as the world was faced with the issue of global warming due to various reasons including deforestation, Pakistan was doing, what it can do, to check the phenomenon through multiple measures, adding there was a need to take measures at global level. He said Pakistan had done more than its available resources to stop global warming, as he reiterated the need to plant trees for a better environment in the country.
He said that contrary to the only 640 million trees planted in the country’s history by 2013, the government of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa planted one billion trees in the province during 2013 to 2018. “At least we leave Pakistan in a better condition than we inherited. In Pakistan’s 60-year history, 64 crore trees were grown till 2013, and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, only from 2013-2018, we had grown a billion trees,” he said. “Now, we aim to grow 10 billion trees,” he said, urging every Pakistani to grow a tree to leave the country in a better state than they had inherited. “This is the Lahore that we grew up in, which had forests, gardens, and clean air […] and in no time, Lahore has now become one of the most polluted cities of the country,” he said.
The premier said scientists, after lengthy research, published a report last month in which they revealed that there are several things on land that cannot be changed back to their old form. “For example, the rise in sea level and temperature due to global warming cannot be reversed as human beings have damaged the world to such an extent. But if we humans join hands, we might be able to save ourselves from a catastrophe,” he said.
The prime minister lauded the efforts of Punjab chief minister and his team for developing Miyawaki forests in Lahore.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar called on Prime Minister Imran Khan. Administrative matters of Punjab, measures for the relief of masses, strategy to check inflation and hoarding and the progress of ongoing development projects were discussed in the meeting. Buzdar apprised the prime minister of the measures taken for improvement in the administrative structure of the government of Punjab. The prime minister, who expressed satisfaction over the measures, was also briefed about ensuring the strict implementation of coronavirus SOPs during Muharram-ul-Haram.
The chief minister also briefed the prime minister about the construction of Hindu temple in Bhong as well as the strategy to further strengthen arrangements for the protection of minorities.
