Forest Dept to plant 0.8m saplings in Sindh

KARACHI - The Forest Department of Sindh Government has planed a comprehensive and extensive campaign of tree-plantation in all 23 districts and forestland of the province. Under this campaign, the forest department will plant o.8m samplings of various kinds, and till now 2.711 lacs sampling of different trees have been planted during the campaign, official sources told The Nation on Sunday. Sindh Minister for Home and Forest, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, directed the department to disseminate technology of nursery raising field planting and create awareness among the farmers and general public to plant maximum trees on their farmlands in order to promote environmental stability, preserve biodiversity and natural heritage. This would facilitate conservation and improvement in the rangelands, irrigated and mangrove forests for maximising sustained production and preservation of ecosystem, he maintained. Dr Mirza while presiding over a briefing of Sindh Forest Department sought the details of targets and achievements for spring tree plantation campaign 2010. Secretary Mushtaq Memon, and senior conservator of forests, briefed the minister about ongoing and new schemes in this regard. While submitting a detailed report on tree plantation 2010, Secretary Forest said that campaign target was set to plant round about one million saplings in the 23 districts of the province and so far 0.3 million saplings have been planted successfully. The Forest minister observed that restoring lost and damaged ecosystem from forests and fresh waters to mangroves and wetlands can trigger revenue, generate jobs and combat poverty, Repairing and rehabilitating eco-system also generates jobs in a world where currently over 1.3 billion are un-employed or under - employed while supporting international goals to substantially reduce the rate of loss of bio-diversity a key theme of World Environment Day 2010, he said. Dr. Mirza also highlighted the importance of plants in medicines. He referred to an international survey wherein it was revealed that out of top 150 prescription drugs used in USA, 118 are based on natural resources: 74 percent on plants, 18 percent on fungi, 5 percent on bacteria and 3 % on snake species. Approximately 80 % of the human population relies on traditional medical systems and about 85 percent of traditional medicines involve the use of plant extract, he added. Chief Conservator Forests, Mir Nadir Talpur, informed to the Minister that Sindh Forest Department had prepared a neem plantation scheme at the sum of Rs 36.570 million for a period of three years (2008 -2009 to 2010 -2011). The scheme is under implementation and would be completed within the stipulated time, he added.