Federal Minister For Climate Change Inaugurates Tree Plantation Campaign At Mehran University

Federal Minister for Climate Change Muhammad Yousuf has termed the climate change a great challenge and said that it could be met out through community participation by planting trees by each person of the country.

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jul, 2018 ) :Federal Minister for Climate Change Muhammad Yousuf has termed the climate change a great challenge and said that it could be met out through community participation by planting trees by each person of the country.

The minister expressed these remarks while inaugurating the monsoon tree plantation campaign by planting a sapling in front of the Department of Industrial Engineering of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro on Monday.

He said that due to multitude of direct and indirect factors such as over population, limited alternative options, over use of forestry products, lack of capacity and natural and manmade hazards, the forests of the country are going to deforest and degrade at an alarming rate of about 27000 hectare per year.

Giving the province wise break of forest, he said that the forest located in Khybar Pakhtunkhwa at an area of 1.684 million hectares, Gilgit-Baltistan at an area of 0.666 million hectares, Punjab at an area of 0.608 million, Balochistan at an area of 0.592 million hectares, Sindh at an area of 0.339 hectares and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the forests are located at an area of 0.275 million hectares.

He said these forests though limited in extent for unique and diverse ecological systems providing timber, fuel wood and variety of non timber forest products such as medicinal and aromatic plants, resin, wild fruits and berries. In addition to these products, the forests of the country also provide environmental and ecological services such as carbon sequestration, water regulation, fertility regulation and biodiversity, he added.

The minister said that planting more trees is the need of the hour not only to meet the needs for products but also as a mitigation and adaptation measures to counter the negative impacts of climate change.

The people of all segments of life should realise their responsibility and fully take part in tree plantation with due care till grow of trees in order to meet the climate change in Pakistan, he said.

The Federal Minister for Climate Change Muhammad Yousuf also visited the University of Sindh and Liaquat University of Health and Sciences Jamshoro where he also inaugurated the monsoon tree plantation campaign by planting saplings.

He said that the federal government has decided to actively engage the academia, students and civil society to achieve the challenging task of increasing the country's forest cover. The federal government has set target of planting 47.14 million plants during the current monsoon season, he said.

The minister said that Sindh has the lowest forest cover of 0.399 million hectares as compared to other provinces of the country and there is the need of more efforts and out of the box solution to improve the forest cover of the province.

Under Green Pakistan Programme, the minister announced the provision of 500,000 plants to various universities, institutions, civil society organizations and individuals of Sindh province.

The Vice Chancellor Mehran University Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uqaili, Vice Chancellor University of Sindh Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Burfat and the Vice Chancellor Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Dr. Bekha Ram informed the minister about the measures which adopted the management of all the three universities of Jamshoro in bringing healthy climate in the campuses through tree plantation under the Green Pakistan Programme.

The Deans of Faculties, Director of the Institutes and the Chairpersons of the Departments of the universities also participated in the tree plantation ceremonies of their respective campuses.