KARACHI - Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Saturday inaugurated monsoon tree plantation drive at Governor House as a part of the “Clean Green Pakistan Initiative” under the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme to Promote Environmental Sustainability and Biodiversity. The event was held in collaboration with Dawat-e-Islami Pakistan. He said planting trees made the environment cleaner and also reduced air pollution. He stressed that the tree plantation is joint responsibility of all to create a healthy environment for the coming generations. “Only with healthy ecosystems, we can enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity,” he observed. Imran Ismail said that the tree plantation programme was also generating thousands of new employment opportunities. He observed that under the government’s flagship 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project, more than 85,000 people have already found green jobs, during last year, including in guarding forests, eco-tourism and planting saplings, at the time when pandemic lockdowns left many daily wage earners without work. “The federal government is targeting to create 200,000 new green jobs by the end of year 2021 under its ecological protection and restoration projects,” he added.

The campaign includes restoring mangroves and forests, as well as planting trees in urban settings, including schools, colleges, public parks and green belts. “30 different trees had already been planted, spread over one acre, under the urban forest plantation campaign, at Governor House; out of which 12 trees were of fruits and 18 of other species,” he added. Likewise, he added, Under Japanese “Miyawaki” technology 1,260 different types of plants were also planted earlier in the Governor House. Its primary purpose was to contribute to the efforts to improve the climate of Karachi, through which more and more trees can be planted in small and small space.